On Friday, September 20th, American Airlines requested the U.S. Transportation Department to allow them to delay the restart of two daily flights from the United States to China, citing lagging travel demand between the two countries.
Currently, American Airlines operates one flight daily between Dallas and Shanghai and has requested an extension of the exemption to continue suspending two additional daily flights to China, stating that “passenger demand between the U.S. and China has not returned to pre-pandemic levels.”
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have also sought permission from the U.S. Transportation Department to continue suspending most of their flights to China. Both airlines cited “ongoing market challenges and reduced travel demand” as reasons for their requests.
Delta Air Lines currently operates flights daily from Seattle and Detroit to Shanghai but is seeking to delay restarting four other routes, including Atlanta to Shanghai, Detroit to Beijing, Los Angeles to Shanghai, and Seattle to Beijing.
Meanwhile, United Airlines plans to offer daily flights between Los Angeles and Shanghai, San Francisco and Beijing, and San Francisco and Shanghai this winter. However, the airline hopes to delay restarting six additional routes, including Chicago to Beijing, Chicago to Shanghai, Newark to Beijing, Newark to Shanghai, Washington to Beijing, and seven additional flights per week between San Francisco and Shanghai.
Since the lifting of travel restrictions due to the pandemic, the capacity of foreign airlines to and from China has not only failed to return to pre-pandemic levels, but airlines such as British Airways and Qantas Airways have steadily been withdrawing flights from the Chinese market. Low demand for travel to China, airline routes, and geopolitical factors have been cited as the main reasons for the withdrawal of foreign airlines.
On August 8th, British Airways announced for commercial reasons that they would suspend flights from London to Beijing starting in late October for a year. Last month, British Airways also suspended one of their two daily flights from London to Hong Kong for a year.
In May, Qantas Airways announced that, due to low demand for travel to China, they would suspend flights to Shanghai starting from July 28th. However, they would start a new route from Brisbane to Manila in late October and increase flights to Singapore.