The ticket prices have finally come down!, Starting from today, there will be additional flights on the China US route

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Introduction: Compared to the over 300 weekly flights between China and the United States before the epidemic, the current number of direct flights is still very few.

Author | First Financial Chen Shanshan

After a four month hiatus, the China US air route, which has been in short supply, has finally received another opportunity to increase flights.

The three major airlines recently submitted new flight plans for September October to the US Department of Transportation, which officially took effect today.

After today, Chinese airlines can operate 18 pairs of direct and round-trip passenger flights between China and the United States per week, an increase of 6 pairs of round-trip flights from the previous 12 pairs.

With the increase of flights and the arrival of the traditional off-season, the previously high priced direct flights between China and the United States, which often cost tens of thousands, have finally experienced a decline in ticket prices.

China adds 6 pairs of direct flights

This round of additional flights stems from the approval from the US Department of Transportation on August 10th for Chinese airlines to further increase their plans for direct flights between China and the United States.

According to a notice from the US Department of Transportation, starting from September 1st, Chinese airlines are allowed to operate 18 pairs of direct passenger flights between China and the United States per week, and from October 29th, it will be increased to 24 pairs per week.

Prior to this, four Chinese airlines, Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines, operated 12 pairs of direct flights between China and the United States. Among them, Los Angeles had 8 pairs of direct flights to China per week, making it the city with the most direct flights to mainland China in the United States. The remaining four direct flights of Chinese airlines were to New York every week.

After the approval of China's additional flights in the United States, Air China has applied for one new pair of round-trip flights per week for Beijing Los Angeles and Beijing New York. China Eastern Airlines has applied for two new pairs of round-trip flights per week for Shanghai Los Angeles, and China Southern Airlines has applied for two new pairs of round-trip flights per week for Guangzhou Los Angeles.

Starting today, Chinese airlines will operate 18 pairs of direct passenger flights between China and the United States per week, and after October 29th, it can be increased to 24 pairs per week.

Before the epidemic, more Chinese airlines such as Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Capital Airlines were also operating flights between China and the United States. It is also worth paying attention to whether they will apply to resume flights between China and the United States after October 29th.

US Airlines will increase flights after October

At the same time, American airlines, which had previously been less proactive in increasing flights between China and the United States, have also taken action. United Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and American Airlines have successively announced plans to increase flights between China and the United States in the coming months.

Delta Airlines plans to increase its existing Seattle Shanghai flights to 7 per week and Detroit Shanghai flights to 3 per week starting from October 29th; Starting from March 2024, resume flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai, with a frequency of 4 flights per week.

Starting from October 1st, United Airlines plans to increase the number of flights from San Francisco to Shanghai from 4 to 7 per week; Starting from November, flights from San Francisco to Beijing will resume with a frequency of 7 flights per week.

Starting from January 2024, American Airlines plans to increase its existing Dallas Shanghai flights to one per day.

In addition to the US airline currently operating, the US Department of Transportation has also approved a new US airline to operate a new Kennedy Shanghai Pudong route with four flights per week, but any additional plans still require approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China.

China US Airways Finally Lowered Prices

With the increase of flights between China and the United States, the previously high ticket prices of tens of thousands on China US routes have finally begun to decline.

For example, China Southern Airlines, which added flights from Guangzhou to Los Angeles starting from September 1st, offered a one-way price of 6559 yuan including tax when announcing the increase in flights; Xiamen Airlines, which did not add any flights this time, also offered a one-way price including tax of 4387 yuan on the Los Angeles Xiamen national route; Air China has launched a low price of 5058 yuan on its North American official website on its route from Los Angeles to Shenzhen and across the country. However, in August, the lowest price from September to Los Angeles was still above 8500 yuan.

In response to this, multiple industry insiders have analyzed to reporters that Los Angeles is currently the destination where airlines operate the most routes between China and the United States, and the increase in transportation capacity will lead to a greater decrease in ticket prices. It can be said that tickets to Los Angeles should be considered a price depression for routes between China and the United States.

By comparison, flights from China to other cities in the United States are more expensive, but they have also fallen slightly compared to August. The reporter once searched for round-trip flights from Shanghai to San Francisco in mid August, and the price of economy class tickets was still above 20000 yuan. Now, when searching for routes during the same time period, it has dropped to below 15000 yuan. The one-way ticket price from Shanghai to San Francisco has already dropped below 10000 yuan.

With the decrease in direct ticket prices between China and the United States and the increase in direct flights, routes that previously required connecting to the United States through Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and other places will also have their prices reduced.

However, it is still difficult to return to the low price of 3000 yuan that used to fly to the United States before the epidemic, as the current number of direct flights is still very few compared to the over 300 weekly flights between China and the United States before the epidemic.