In the battle for a NASCAR site, Charlotte beat out Atlanta. But the latest dog fight is over a new air route to China.
US Airways Group Inc. wants to connect Charlotte to Beijing with a one-stop flight through Philadelphia. The state’s governor and local politicians are on their side.
Atlanta-based Delta Air lines has enlisted Georgia officials to help them get the flight.
Applications for the routes are due later this month to the US Department of Transportation.
The proposed Charlotte flight is also new competition for Atlanta, which has long claimed to be the regional capital of the South. Boosters tout the world’s busiest airport, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, which is linked to shipping routes. The city has 5 million people and is headquarters to major corporations.
“But like a pesky little brother, Charlotte has been trying to stake its claim to regional dominance, with 2.4 million people, eight Fortune 500s, marble-lined banks, an orderly downtown and the small but sophisticated Charlotte Douglas International Airport,” says the Charlotte Business Journal.
In the end, what’s at stake is economic development: specifically, trade between the fastest-growing region of the United States, the Southeast, and the world’s fastest-growing economy, China, adds the newspaper.
Report by David Wilkening
