An Air China Boeing 777-300ER to land at Beijing Capital International Airport(PEK/ZBAA)

BOSTON — The U.S. DOT announced that they will allow Chinese carriers to operate 50 U.S. flights per week from March 31, a significant increase from the current 35 weekly flights. It is a move to bring flights back to the time before COVID, but there is still a long way to go.

The DOT said in the statement that it is a huge step to bring flights back, “a significant step forward in further normalization of the US-China market in anticipation of the summer 2024 traffic season”.

Before COVID in the first month of 2020, there were more than 300 round-trip flights between China and the U.S., with roughly half operated by Chinese carriers and the other half by American carriers.

In May 2023, the DOT boosted flights operated by Chinese carriers from 8 to 12 per week. until Sept. 1,2023, Starting Sept.1, 2023, the number was increased to 18, later from Oct. 19 it was increased to 24, and from Nov. 9, the number hiked to 35 until today. Reuters found that all newly opened flights after May was not using Russian Airspace.

The current 35 flights are shared by Air China (11), China Eastern (9), China Southern (7), Hainan Airlines (3), Xiamen Airlines (3), and Sichuan Airlines (2).

Civil Aviation Administration of China(CAAC) said in January that it will push for a significant increase of flight between China and the U.S., according to China News Service, a state news agency.

(Document ID: DOT-OST-2020-0052-0174)