After three years of largely self-imposed isolation because of Covid‑19, China is finally reopening. But US airlines aren’t lining up to reinstate the once-abundant services between the world’s two largest economies. In pre-pandemic 2019, direct flights between the US and China by carriers from both countries averaged 340 per week. Today there are a maximum of just two dozen weekly.
The biggest US airlines—American, Delta and United—will keep flying at reduced pandemic-era levels, though not because they expect weak demand, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified speaking about private discussions. Rather, it’s a dispute over Russian airspace restrictions that apply to about three dozen countries, including the US, but not to China.
