The U.S. and China will approve twice the number of passenger flights currently permitted for air carriers to fly between the two countries, the Biden administration said on Friday, in a rare sign of cooperation between the world’s largest two economies.
The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said it would will increase the number of Chinese passenger flights allowed to fly to the U.S. to 18 weekly round-trips on Sept. 1 and increase that to 24 per week starting Oct. 29, up from the current 12.
It said the Chinese government will agree to the same increase for American carriers, confirming a decision reported earlier by Reuters.
USDOT said the first tranche of flights was approved to start Sept. 1 “to meet an anticipated increase in demand around the start of the academic year.”
