Delta Air Lines adds Shanghai flights amid thaw in China-US economic relations
Carrier says LA-Shanghai service is being expanded ‘in response to customer demand’
Delta Air Lines, one of the United States’ top carriers, will add two weekly flights connecting Shanghai with Los Angeles due to customer demand at a time of thawing relations between the world’s two biggest economies.
The Atlanta-based airline’s weekly direct flights on the cross-Pacific route will rise to five from three in October, Delta said in a statement issued this week.
Delta, which aviation intelligence firm OAG ranks as America’s second-largest carrier by number of seats, said that from October it will operate 19 China-US flights a week – including Shanghai to Detroit and Shanghai to Seattle.
A Delta spokesperson said on Wednesday that the Los Angeles-Shanghai service was being expanded “in response to customer demand”.
The additional Delta flights will take the number of round-trip China-US flights by American carriers closer to the maximum of 50 set by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in 2024. Flights by Chinese carriers to the US are capped at the same number.
Delta competitor United Airlines operates San Francisco and Los Angeles flights that reach Beijing and Shanghai.