(Yicai) Aug. 14 -- Air China and China Eastern Airlines told Yicai that they have applied to the US government for new slots after the countries last week approved the doubling of passenger flights between the two nations. China-US route fares are now expected to drop further.

The number of round-trip Chinese passenger flights permitted to fly to the United States will increase to 18 a week from Sept. 1 and to 24 from Oct. 29, the US Transportation Department said on Aug. 10. Air China, China Eastern, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines currently fly 12 a week.

Air China filed a new China-US flight plan with the department on Aug. 11, adding one flight between Beijing and Los Angeles each week. China Eastern also applied to add a flight between Shanghai and LA. China Southern and Xiamen Airlines are expected to follow suit.

Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Capital Airlines, and other Chinese carriers also operated China-US flights before the pandemic.

Airlines need to assess whether US ground services can cope with more flights from China as they are stretched relatively thin at the moment, said Li Hanming, an industry insider. Carriers also need to consider the potential benefit of more China-US flights as the post-September off-season looms when Chinese students have returned to school in the US.

Even when the number of flights increases to 24 a week at the end of October, there will still be far fewer than the 300 before the pandemic. The number is currently below 10 percent of the pre-pandemic level, and many travelers have to take connecting flights between China and the United States.

Editors: Shi Yi, Peter Thomas