Delta Air Lines to resume passenger flights to China

Delta Air Lines will resume passenger service between Seattle and Shanghai on Thursday, June 25th. The American airline will run the route with a stopover in Seoul twice a week. For the time being Delta will use an Airbus A350 on the route.

It is the first passenger flight between China and the US of an American airline since the suspension of services in February. As of next month, Delta Air Lines will continue to connect Seattle to China’s largest city, but one weekly flight from Seattle will be replaced by the Detroit-Shanghai route.

United Airlines also wants to fly back to China soon and, like Delta Air Lines, is allowed to schedule two return flights a week. United Airlines plans to operate two weekly passenger flights between San Francisco and Shanghai from July 6th to October 24th.

The US and China signed an agreement last week to allow four weekly flights between the two countries each. Tensions had been running high as US airlines were unable to resume their flights from June onwards due to strict Chinese rules. The US threatened to ban Chinese passenger flights, but reverted to it later.

The four flights from China to the US are operated by Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Xiamen Air. Air China picks up the Beijing-Los Angeles route, China Eastern connects Shanghai to New York, China Southern flies between Guangzhou and Los Angeles, and Xiamen Air runs the Xiamen-Los Angeles route.

The US continues to urge China to allow more return flights between the two countries. According to the United States Department of Transportation, the U.S. will allow more flights from Chinese carriers if China does the same for U.S. carriers.