Recovery Tracker
after China reopened in 2023, flights were set to increase from 16 per week to 24 per week, announced in March 2023.
In Aug 2023, two sides agreed to double capacity of 48 per week, ramping up to 36 per week on Sep 1, and 48 per week on Oct 29.
Flights would further increase to 70 per week starting Nov. 9.
Technical difficulties
US need to avoid Russian airspace, which requires longer distance and thus refueling.
Impact on tourism
e.g. SF: visitors from Mainland would be only ~20% of 2019 level.
“In 2019, 518,000 of San Francisco’s 4.3 million international visitors were from China, according to data provided by SF Travel. Though visitors from Mexico outnumbered them by about 100,000, visitors from China spent the most of any group, accounting for $1.2 billion of the $7.7 billion international tourists spent in the city that year.
This year, visitors from China are expected to number only one-fifth of their 2019 total, and expected to spend just under $450 million. That brings the city’s total international visitor spending down from 2019’s $7.7 billion to an expected $5.9 billion in 2023.”
— SF Chronicle (https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/international-tourism-china-recovery-18188305.php)
Other sources:
https://www.regulations.gov/document/DOT-OST-2020-0052-0165