http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-united29.html United turns toward the sun July 29, 2006 BY DAVE CARPENTER Shifting its focus increasingly toward more lucrative routes across the Pac= ific, United Airlines announced on Friday that it will add 40 weekly flight= s to Asia over the next nine months and no longer will fly from New York to= London and Tokyo. United also plans to add more cargo capacity as it seeks to strengthen its = bottom line in the face of record fuel prices that have slowed its recovery= after a three-year bankruptcy restructuring. The nation's second-largest carrier agreed to sell its New York-London rout= e authority to No. 3 Delta Air Lines Inc. for $21 million, dropping a hotly= contested but unprofitable route to focus more on trans-Pacific flights wh= ere its broad international network gives it an advantage. It said it will move its Tokyo service from New York's JFK Airport to Washi= ngton Dulles International. The schedule changes make sense for United because of strong business trave= l demand on routes to Asia and because of the premium prices that can be ch= arged for long international flights, said John Pincavage, an independent a= irline consultant. As for abandoning JFK for overseas flights, he said: ''You've got to play f= rom your strength, and New York isn't one of their strengths as an internat= ional source of traffic.'' The airlines' hubs are Chicago's O'Hare, Dulles and airports in Denver, Los= Angeles and San Francisco. ''As we improve our financial performance, we must make certain that we tak= e full advantage of our network strength and fly routes that provide the be= st revenue opportunities for United and the greatest benefits to our custom= ers,'' Chief Revenue Officer John Tague said. In addition to flights between Tokyo's Narita International Airport and Was= hington Dulles, the schedule changes include the reinstatement of United's = daily San Francisco-Taipei flights, expansion of its San Francisco-Seoul se= rvice from seasonal to year-round, and the addition of three more weekly fl= ights between San Francisco and Hong Kong. United plans to discontinue flights from JFK to London Heathrow at the end = of October pending regulatory approval of the sale of its New York-London r= ights to Delta, which is paying United $13 million at closing and $2 millio= n a year for four years. ''JFK-Heathrow has not performed well for us, and because of that we can't = justify the expense of maintaining the route, especially when we have oppor= tunities to realize better returns by using our assets in other markets,'' = United spokeswoman Jean Medina said. United will still fly to London from Dulles, Los Angeles, O'Hare and San Fr= ancisco. United has been adding international flights and cutting back on domestic f= lights in recent years, citing increased demand and greater profitability. = It doubled its capacity to Asia during its bankruptcy makeover, which ended= in February, reflecting an intensifying competition among U.S. carriers to= serve the burgeoning market in China and elsewhere in Asia. AP Copyright =A9 The Sun-Times Company All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritt= en, or redistributed.