Beijing airport Photo: VCG

The US has agreed to add six flights operated by Chinese airlines, effective on September 1, the US Department of Transportation (USDT) said on Monday. The announcement is the second schedule expansion for Chinese air carriers since May this year.

The carriers are Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, with most of the flights serving Los Angeles and New York.

The announcement came on the same day as China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo will visit China from August 27 to 30 at the invitation of her Chinese counterpart Wang Wentao.

The flight routes specifically include Beijing to Los Angeles and Beijing to New York operated by Air China, flying once a week. China Eastern Airlines will fly from Shanghai to Los Angeles twice a week, and China Southern Airline's flight will operate from Guangzhou to Los Angeles, also operating twice a week.

Chinese airlines will operate up to 18 direct flights between the two countries every week from September 1, with the number expected to increase to 24 flights per week from October 29 this year, per the USDT.

Data from travel platform Qunar.com showed that the lowest one-way fare from Shanghai to Los Angeles in September is about 8,500 yuan, down about 25 percent from the average fare two weeks ago.

However, there remains a big gap in round-trip fares compared with 2019.

There were 332 flights between China and the US every week before the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in 2020, but the current capacity is less than 10 percent of pre-pandemic levels, meaning that the huge demand cannot be met quickly, Lin Zhijie, an independent market watcher, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

The added flights operated by Chinese airlines came after three US carriers added China-bound routes.

Delta Air Lines said on Thursday that it will expand its flight schedule to China later this year. American Airlines also plans to expand flights to Shanghai early next year, joining rivals in taking advantage of a US-China agreement to increase the number of flights between the countries, according to Bloomberg. United Airlines Holdings is also making similar arrangements.

The USDT said earlier this month that that each country will be granted six more weekly round-trip flights as of September 1, up from previous 12 flights. The figure will increase to 24 per week starting from October 29.

In May, the USDT allowed Chinese airlines to operate 12 round-trip flights between China and the US every week, up from eight, for a total of 24 flights between China and the US every week.

The recovery momentum of China's domestic routes has been robust, as major passenger traffic indicators returned to pre-pandemic levels, but the recovery progress of overseas routes has lagged.

Data from the Civil Aviation Administration of China showed that by the end of June of this year, international passenger flights stood at 3,368 per week, returning to 44 percent of the pre-pandemic levels.