EAST MEETS WEST AT SAN JOSE INTERNATIONAL AS AMERICAN AIRLINES LAUNCHES FLIGHTS TO TAIPEI AND PARIS

Sunday won’t be a typical day at San Jose International Airport. Down by gate A15 in the American Airlines concourse, travelers and visitors will find pagodas and the Eiffel Tower, as well as Chinese lion dancers, Parisian entertainment and a wide variety of Chinese and French food. All of this is part of American’s "East Meets West" celebration marking the launch of the airline’s new flights from San Jose to Taipei and Paris.

On what promises to be a big day for the airline, the airport and the entire San Jose/Silicon Valley region, American will triple the number of international destinations it serves from San Jose. For the first time in its history, American will start two new international routes from the same airport to two different continents across two oceans on the same day.

The Taipei flight, which will be San Jose’s second nonstop to Asia, departs at 1:30 p.m. Departing at 6:30 p.m., the Paris flight will be San Jose’s first nonstop link to Europe.

"With our new flights to Taipei and Paris, combined with our successful Tokyo service, we’re truly putting the ‘international’ into San Jose International," said Mike Gunn, American’s executive vice president for marketing and planning. "We want American to be the airline of choice, and San Jose International the airport of choice, for Bay Area travelers taking trips to Europe or Asia."

"It’s very rare for an airport to have an opportunity like this to celebrate two new international routes in one day," said Airport Director Ralph Tonseth. "We are delighted that American has chosen San Jose as a major international gateway."

Underscoring the significance of the day, passengers traveling on each of the inaugural flights will receive a gift bag containing the critically acclaimed Bose® QuietComfort™ Acoustic Noise Cancelling™ Headset, a certificate for 20,000 American Airlines AADVANTAGE miles and other presents.

American will fly the Paris route with 190-seat Boeing 767-300s and the Taipei route with 223-seat Boeing 777s. Both aircraft will be outfitted with fully flat sleeper seats in first class and will soon be reconfigured to have 60 inches of legroom in business class. First class and business class comforts include Bose noise-cancelling headsets and Origins in-flight "Spa" amenity kits.

For movie viewing, first class and business class customers on the Taipei route will enjoy video screens built into their armrests. First class customers can choose from more than 20 movie titles available on videocassette. Customers in all three classes will have a choice of 10 video entertainment channels, including Star TV and movies in Mandarin or with Chinese subtitles, as well as an audio channel called China Dreams.

On the Paris flights, first class and business class customers will enjoy DVD video players with a wide selection of movie titles.

Main cabin customers can relax in new-generation seats with leather six-way adjustable headrests. The main cabin will soon be converted to American’s popular "More Room Throughout Coach" seating configuration, with more legroom in every row. Work on the 767s will be complete by June and the 777 fleet will finished in August.

To support the launch of the new routes, and to build awareness of San Jose/Silicon Valley abroad, American is sponsoring a business development mission to Taipei and a cultural mission to Paris, in conjunction with the City of San Jose, the San Jose Chamber of Commerce and the San Jose Convention and Visitors Bureau. The Taipei mission is scheduled for April 22-27 and the Paris mission is scheduled for May 13-18.

The new flights to Taipei and Paris, two of the world’s most fascinating international destinations, are a continuation of American’s steady growth at San Jose International Airport. Within the last year, American has launched daily nonstop flights to Denver, Honolulu, Maui, Miami and Phoenix, and increased service to Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Los Angeles and New York Kennedy.

With the addition of Paris and Taipei, American will offer 73 daily departures from San Jose to 19 destinations, more than triple its San Jose service three years ago.

"San Jose’s robust economy and the high-tech leadership of the Silicon Valley region played an important role in our decision to fly these new routes," Gunn said. "Since San Jose is the country’s second biggest exporting city, we expect to carry significant amounts of cargo well as passengers."

Although American has offered codeshare service to Taipei since Nov. 1999 in partnership with EVA Airways of Taiwan, the flights from San Jose will be American’s first to Taipei with its own aircraft. American will continue to codeshare on EVA’s flights between the U.S. and Taiwan and EVA will codeshare on American’s San Jose-Taipei flights.

At Taipei, passengers can make connections on EVA Airways to other Asian points such as Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Macau and Singapore.