The U.S. Department of Transportation approved increasing the number of weekly round-trip passenger flights allowed for Chinese airlines to the U.S. from 35 to 50, starting March 31, according to an order filed Monday.
According to a DOT statement, “This level of service is equivalent to the total number of passenger aircraft operations authorized by the Civil Aviation Administration of the People's Republic of China for U.S. carriers.”
According to the order, airlines that could operate these flights include Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines. The DOT has asked these airlines to submit proposed schedules for the department to consider.
The DOT said the approval follows a November 2023 meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping, in which the two “committed to working to substantially increase scheduled passenger flights in parallel with steps to restore full implementation of the U.S.-China Air Transport Agreement.”
DOT added that it is “committed to facilitating the phased and predictable normalization of aviation markets between the two countries in accordance with the U.S.-China Civil Aviation Transportation Agreement.”
The DOT said in August 2023 that it would increase the number of permitted Chinese passenger flights to the U.S. from 12 to 18, starting September 1. That number had increased to 24 as of October 29 and reached 35 in November.
“We support the U.S. government’s approach to slowly, gradually and reciprocally reopening our markets with China,” the industry group Airlines for America said in a statement, adding that “it is essential that the U.S. government maintains this approach.”
According to Reuters, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines currently operate 31 flights a week to China.
Source: Business Travel News
