Heavy! Direct flights between China and the United States have officially resumed!

According to The Paper, on February 3, United Airlines announced the resumption of direct flights between Shanghai (Pudong International Airport) and San Francisco (San Francisco International Airport) four times a week.

The first direct flight departed from Shanghai on January 28, 2023 to San Francisco, and the return direct flight departed from San Francisco to Shanghai on January 29, 2023. Previously affected by the outbreak, the flight stopped at Incheon Airport in South Korea. United's new direct flight plan has shortened the flight time from Shanghai to San Francisco by 2 hours and 20 minutes, and shortened the return flight time by 1 hour and 35 minutes.

According to The Paper, the above-mentioned routes are currently the first non-stop route for United Airlines to resume direct flights between China and the United States.

At the same time, Delta Airlines WeChat Public Number reported on February 3 that Delta Airlines canceled the Seoul technical stop from March 3, 2023 and officially resumed direct flights between China and the United States.

Source: Delta Air Lines Public

According to a previous report by Interface News, Delta Air Lines also announced last month that it will provide free on-board high-speed Wi-Fi services, becoming the first large-scale US airline to provide free high-speed Wi-Fi services for all passengers.

According to the plan, Delta will cooperate with T-Mobile. From February 1, 2023, most of Delta's domestic trunk flights will provide free high-speed Wi-Fi service. By the end of 2024, this service will fully cover all international and feeder flights.

Over the past three years, the outbreak has affected a wide range of flights between China and the United States. At the end of January 2020, United Airlines, Delta Airlines and American Airlines suspended the operation of China-US routes due to the serious epidemic in China. Domestic airlines only retain a small number of Chinese and American flights under the restrictions of the Civil Aviation Administration's "Five Ones" policy.

However, the Chinese and American flights operated by American Airlines do not fly directly into the country, but require technical stops in a third country. It is understood that refueling, technical inspection and other stops are technical stops. If a certain route exceeds the safe flight distance of the aircraft, it will choose to stop at a certain airport.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, applications from Chinese and American airlines to resume operations of Chinese and American routes have been accepted since January 8. "The Civil Aviation Administration is stepping up its approval work in accordance with the procedures, and welcomes Chinese and American airlines to operate flights between the two countries in accordance with the agreement and market demand. During the flight recovery process, the Civil Aviation Administration will also strengthen communication with the U.S. civil aviation authorities to promote the smooth resumption of flights between China and the United States."