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China and US give the green light to double flights in rare show of cooperation between rivals
- Washington agrees to approve 24 round-trip flights by Chinese carriers per week from late October and says Beijing will reciprocate
- However, this is still just a fraction of the number allowed by each side before Covid-19 controls were imposed in 2020
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The US and China will approve twice the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries, the White House said on Friday, in a rare sign of cooperation between the world’s two biggest economies.
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The US Transportation Department (USDOT) said it would increase the number of Chinese passenger flights allowed to fly to the US to 18 weekly round trips on September 1 and increase that to 24 per week starting on October 29, up from the current 12.
It said the Chinese government would agree to the same increase for American carriers, confirming a decision reported earlier by Reuters.
The agreement between Beijing and Washington, which have sparred on many fronts, comes after China on Thursday lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more countries, including key markets such as the US, Japan, South Korea and Australia.
USDOT said the first tranche of flights was approved to start on September 1 “to meet an anticipated increase in demand around the start of the academic year”.
Sources said US airlines were not expected to immediately take advantage of all 18 weekly flights.
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