The US Department of Transportation (US DOT) has agreed to allow Chinese airlines to increase their weekly flights to the US from eight to 12 round trips. The move come after the officials in Beijing had proposed to equalize the number of weekly flights per side, as the US carriers were already allowed to operate 12 weekly flights to China.
However, US operations are concerned over the on-going situation in Russia that puts them at a disadvantage compared to airlines in Asia, as the Russian airspace is closed to US airlines but not to China and other Asian countries. This gives the Chinese and other Asian carriers a competitive advantage over US carriers.
Even though the US DOT has agreed to increase the Chinese airline capacity it will remain cautious and continue to monitor the situation and its consequences on US carriers.
As of now, direct flights between the two countries remain more than 90% down compared to 2019, but this latest move will definitely give a boost to the direct connectivity between US and China.
With COVID restrictions a thing of the past, travel demand between the US and China will likely increase over the coming months.