American Airlines has announced that it will resume non-stop flights to Shanghai, China, now that the country has opened its borders, Simply Flying reported.
Since the news that China would relax restrictions tied to its zero-COVID policy, the demand for travel there has increased exponentially.
American Airlines has responded by resuming the non-stop flight from Dallas to Shanghai. The first non-stop flight between the two hubs in three years is scheduled to take place on March 27.
The last time a flight between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Shanghai Pudong International Airport existed was in March 2020, when the flight was suspended.
The flight was resumed earlier with a stop-over at Seoul Incheon International Airport in South Korea, but as demand increased, so did the need for a non-stop flight.
The schedule will likely include American Airlines flights to Shanghai twice weekly, with each plane holding 273 passengers, for a total of 546 seats available each week. American Airlines intends to increase this in October with 1,910 seats per week.
This will be the only flight to Shanghai resuming, according to American Airlines.
“This weekend, we adjusted our summer 2023 schedule to China. We’ll continue to direct service between Dallas/Fort Worth and Shanghai twice weekly,” American Airlines said in a statement. “However, all other services to China will remain paused. We will continue to adjust schedules to China this year based on market demand and changes in government regulations.”
The airline route between Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Beijing Daxing International Airport will also be resuming on October 29 instead of March 26 as originally planned.
Outside of Dallas, a new flight between the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and Shanghai Pudong International Airport has also been delayed until October 29, as the airlines decided that now is not the best time for adding a new route. This route had been announced before the pandemic.
