Very few flights between the US and China have returned despite the end of covid

BEIJING – Less than 6% of US flights to and from mainland China that were present in 2019 have resumed, according to the Nomura report.

In contrast, flights between mainland China and Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Italy have returned roughly to pre-pandemic pace or more, the report showed, citing data as of May 22 from Variflight.

“We believe that geopolitical factors in the recovery of outbound tourism in China … clearly play a role here,” Nomura’s chief China economist Ting Lu and team said in a report Monday.

In March, China brokered the restoration of diplomatic relations between Middle Eastern rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran. Beijing has refused to condemn Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, while calling for peace talks.

Meanwhile, tensions between the United States and China escalated. China’s ambassador to the United States took office last week after a hiatus of nearly six months, with no one else in the post.

Last weekend, Air China’s Beijing-New York flight was the first direct passenger on a Chinese airline’s route in months. She was one of Four new weekly flights between the two countries by Chinese carriers approved by the US Department of Transportation in May.

Previously, the only regular direct flights of Chinese airlines between mainland China and New York since the epidemic were from Shanghai and Guangzhou. Nonstop cross-border flights also cover Los Angeles.

In March, Delta announced that it had resumed direct flights between the US and China – from Shanghai to Seattle and Detroit.

Overall, mainland China international flights are still less than 40% of 2019 levels, Nomura’s report said.

Analysts expect that level to rise to 70% by the end of the year as international flights pick up in the summer holiday season.