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Caroline Lin

Over private tea in the White House Red Room to mark the end of Xi Jinping’s state visit, US President Donald Trump struck a relaxed tone, marvelling across the table at how fast the Chinese leader had made the trip to America.
“It’s a very fast plane … the fastest plane,” Trump said, in footage captured after the White House TV press pool resumed coverage following a court ruling that restored access to outlets previously banned by the US president.
“[It was due to] its route,” Xi replied. “We go by Russia, Alaska, Canada, and then into the US.”
“That’s fantastic,” Trump said.


The tea session between the presidential couples and a tour of American founding documents at the National Archives marked the end of Xi’s three-day state visit to the United States, reciprocating Trump’s Beijing trip in May.
According to data from the tracking platform Flightradar24, Xi’s aircraft touched down on American soil at around 5.40pm local time on Wednesday, after a 13½-hour flight from Beijing.
When Trump flew back from Beijing, his flight time was considerably longer – at close to 16 hours.
Mutual airspace bans triggered by the Russia-Ukraine war mean US aircraft must bypass Russian skies, adding hours to the journey.
On Friday afternoon local time, Xi boarded his “special plane” – a modified Boeing 747 drawn from the Air China fleet – to fly the same route back. The journey took around 15 hours, the flight tracker showed.

By contrast, Trump’s journey to Beijing aboard Air Force One in May took nearly 18 hours, excluding a refuelling stop of roughly 1½ hours in Alaska, according to US media.
Russia barred US and many other foreign carriers from its airspace in 2022, in retaliation for Western flight bans imposed following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Chinese carriers are allowed to use the shorter route through Russian airspace for eight weekly round-trip US flights.
China has consistently positioned itself as neutral in the Ukraine war, calling for dialogue while refraining from condemning the Russian invasion and denying Western allegations that it was supplying Moscow with military support.
At Thursday’s official White House welcome ceremony, Xi called for increasing direct US-China flights “to facilitate two-way travel and trade”.
But with the Russian airspace ban still in place, the US civil aviation industry remains opposed to adding more flights, with one executive calling the situation “imbalanced” and “unfair”.
That message came from Chris Sununu, head of the industry group Airlines for America, which represents carriers including American Airlines, United Airlines and Delta Air Lines, Reuters reported on Thursday.
“It’s not just a minor thing. It’s a huge cost to the airlines to have to go around Russia,” Sununu was quoted as saying.
Russian airspace offers the shortest routes linking Asia with Europe and North America, reducing operational costs with shorter flight times and lower fuel consumption.

Direct flights between the United States and China plummeted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and diplomatic friction has largely stalled efforts towards full restoration.
Carriers from each side are allowed 50 weekly round-trip flights today – compared with more than 150 weekly round-trip passenger flights before restrictions were imposed in early 2020, according to Reuters.
In October 2025, the Trump administration made a since-shelved proposal to ban Chinese airlines from overflying Russia on routes to and from the US, arguing that the reduced flight times gave them an unfair advantage over American carriers.
Beijing had hit back at the proposal, warning that such restrictions would undermine people-to-people exchanges.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned earlier this month that Russian airspace was becoming increasingly unsafe for commercial airlines due to heightened military activity.


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Russian airspace ban for American carriers gives some Chinese airlines an edge, prompting US aviation sector to oppose new flights


Russian airspace ban for American carriers gives some Chinese airlines an edge, prompting US aviation sector to oppose new flights.


Why Xi’s flight from China to the US was hours faster than Trump’s in May

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Russian airspace ban for American carriers gives some Chinese airlines an edge, prompting US aviation sector to oppose new flights

Russian airspace ban for American carriers gives some Chinese airlines an edge, prompting US aviation sector to oppose new flights