Sources said U.S. airlines are not expected to immediately take advantage of all 18 weekly flights. China Eastern 600115.SS, Xiamen Airlines and China Southern 600029.SS also fly scheduled service to the U.S., while United Airlines UAL.N, American Airlines AAL.O and Delta Airlines DAL.N currently operate passenger flights to China. The 24 weekly flights are still a fraction of the more than 150 round-trip flights allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-pandemic. Previously, only eight weekly flights by Chinese carriers were allowed. Reuters reported in June Chinese airlines were avoiding flying over Russian airspace in newly approved flights to and from the U.S. but still using Russian airspace for other flights.

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