China, US flights continue rebound, but weekly round trips still a fraction of pre-pandemic levels
Before the pandemic, airlines from China and the US flew about 300 round trips combined per week, but that number was slashed during the pandemic.
After China cancelled most of its pandemic restrictions last year, the nations’ aviation bodies began to ramp up the number of weekly flights.
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The number of round trips increased from 24 per week in May to 70 last November with each country’s airlines accounting for half the number of the trips.
Dai said flights between China and major global economies such as Australia, Britain, Italy, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore and New Zealand had rebounded to levels last seen before the pandemic. The total number of international flights during the Lunar New Year period from February 12 to 18 was 70 per cent of the pre-pandemic level, he said.
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The office said travel to Asia countries remained the hardest hit, with air travel still down nearly 30 per cent compared before the pandemic.
In 2019, Chinese travellers made 2.8 million trips to the US, the fifth-largest source of inbound tourism. Around 1.3 million Chinese tourists were expected to visit the US this year, according to China Trading Desk, a marketing technology company.
Last February, the National Travel and Tourism Office predicted that trips by Chinese to the US would not reach the 2019 level until 2027.
China still accounts for the most foreign students at US universities, according to a study released by the US State Department last year.
Both Beijing and Washington have indicated a will to ease tensions between the two nations by increasing the number of people-to-people exchanges.
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In November, during the meeting between Xi and Biden, Xi directly called for promoting such exchanges, mentioning the “flight increase” as one of the priorities.