“U.S. Department of Transportation allows Chinese airlines to increase passenger services in the United States”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) on Wednesday issued an executive order allowing Chinese airlines to increase passenger services in the United States to up to 12 weekly roundtrip flights, a figure equivalent to the number total number of flights Chinese aviation authorities will allow for US carriers.

The three U.S. airlines that currently provide scheduled passenger service in the U.S.-China market (American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines) will be allowed to operate four weekly round-trip flights between the United States and China, the USDOT said.

The order brings the total number of return flights between the two countries to 12, with immediate effect, but this is only a fraction of the total number of flights before the restrictions were imposed at the start of 2020, after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.