Air Canada to increase China flights as Canada lifts restrictions

Air Canada said on Wednesday it would increase direct flights between Canada and China, which remain below pre-COVID levels even though the carrier has added capacity to other Asia Pacific routes. Canada's largest carrier said in a statement it will be resuming daily service from Vancouver to Beijing on January 15 and will be increasing its Shanghai flights to daily starting on December 7. The news arm of China's aviation regulator said earlier that the move came after Ottawa last week removed a 2022 limit on how many services Chinese carriers could fly to Canada. CAAC News, the official newspaper of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, said the increased flights between China and Canada would bolster trade and their economies and promote further recovery of China-Canada air transport. A Canadian source confirmed the development to Reuters. Canada agreed to stabilise ties with China in July, committing to "pragmatic" engagement with the world's second-largest economy, even as trade remained a point of bilateral friction. Flights between both Canada and the United States and China have not ramped back up after COVID-era travel restrictions ended, even as airlines add more seats to other destinations in Asia Pacific. Air Canada, which reports earnings on Friday, said earlier this year the carrier expects stronger demand for Pacific routes in the back half of 2024. Chinese airlines are accelerating applications for additional flights, the CAAC article added. However, in the United States, major U.S. passenger airlines have put off resuming some flights to China, citing lagging travel demand between the world's two largest economies. In 2019 Air Canada was flying up to 35 times a week to China - including from Toronto - while Chinese carriers operated 76 direct round-trip flights, Cirium flight schedule data shows.<br/>China later all but shut its borders to travellers due to a zero COVID policy and suspended many inbound flights.<br/>