As China-US Flights Rise to 50 a Week, Most Go to Los Angeles, San Francisco to Bypass Russia(Yicai) March 13 -- The US will allow Chinese airlines to raise the number of round-trip passenger flights between the two countries from 35 to 50 per week from March 31, and the main destinations will be Los Angeles and San Francisco, Yicai learned.
Most of the additional flights are to the two cities in the western US, mainly because they do not need to fly over Russia.
Flying from Fuzhou to New York will involve a longer route and take more time as it has to bypass Russian territorial airspace, Xiamen Airlines told Yicai. The fuel would not be enough to get back to Fuzhou from New York, so the flight needs to stop in Urumqi for refueling.
US airlines face the same problem, which is one of the main reasons why they have not used the full quota of 35 flights that was approved last November.
US airlines currently operate 31 roundtrip flights to China per week, but based on the principle of reciprocity, they will be allowed up to 50 from March 31. United Airlines announced a plan last week to add a flight between Los Angeles and Shanghai, but it will not start until Aug. 29.
Despite the latest agreement over additional flights between China and the US, there are still many fewer than the roughly 300 flights per week before the Covid-19 pandemic. This has also resulted in much higher fares than before. For example, a flight to Los Angeles or San Francisco cost as little as CNY3,000 before the pandemic, but it now costs about CNY7,000 (USD973).
For the new flights from March 31, Air China has applied for one between Beijing and Los Angeles, and one between Beijing and New York. China Eastern Airlines has applied for one between Shanghai and San Francisco and two between Shanghai and Los Angeles. China Southern Airlines has applied for one between Guangzhou and Los Angeles, and two between Guangzhou and San Francisco. Hainan Airlines has applied for three between Beijing and Seattle. Sichuan Airlines has applied for one between Chengdu and Los Angeles. Xiamen Airlines has applied for two between Fuzhou and New York.
Editor: Tom Litting
