Американские авиалинии планируют оставить без использования 61% прав на полеты в Китай в сезоне 2026/27

Six years after the pandemic devastated international aviation, U.S. airlines are still showing little appetite for restoring much of their former China network. American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have asked the U.S. Department of Transportation for permission to leave 79 of their combined 129 weekly China frequencies unused during the 2026/27 winter season. That means roughly 61% of the China flight rights held by the three largest U.S. international airlines could remain dormant between October 25, 2026 and March 27, 2027 — a striking contrast with the extensive networks they operated before the pandemic. READ MORE: - American’s Redesigned 777 Trades First Class for 70 Suites - Delta Will Let Businesses Change Passenger Names on Tickets - European Airlines Are Cutting Winter Flights — Here’s What’s Disappearing United has the most unused China flights United Airlines has requested the largest waiver, covering 42 of its 66 weekly China frequencies. Delta wants to leave 23 of its 42 weekly frequencies unused, while American is seeking protection for 14 of the 21 frequencies it holds. The waivers are important because U.S. airlines cannot simply hold scarce international traffic rights indefinitely without operating them. The temporary exemptions allow carriers to keep those rights while avoiding normal startup and dormancy requirements. The mechanism dates back to the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and has repeatedly been extended as U.S.–China aviation has struggled to recover. Delta would leave Beijing entirely Delta’s filing illustrates just how much of the pre-pandemic network remains dormant. The airline is seeking a waiver covering all 14 of its authorized weekly Beijing frequencies, as well as seven Atlanta–Shanghai frequencies and two of its seven Los Angeles–Shanghai frequencies. Its planned winter operation would instead concentrate on Shanghai, maintaining daily flights from Detroit and Seattle and five weekly services from Los Angeles. American’s China presence is even more concentrated. Its core nonstop operation remains Dallas/Fort Worth–Shanghai, while it seeks to leave 14 of its 21 authorized weekly frequencies unused. China remains one of aviation’s biggest missing markets The situation is dramatically different from 2019, when U.S. and Chinese airlines operated extensive nonstop networks connecting major cities across both countries. COVID restrictions initially brought most of that flying to a halt. But unlike transatlantic travel and many other international markets, U.S.–China aviation never returned to anything close to its previous scale. Demand has recovered slowly, while geopolitical tensions and operational complications have made the market more difficult. Russian airspace has also created an unusual competitive issue: Chinese airlines can generally fly through Russian airspace while U.S. carriers cannot, potentially giving Chinese operators shorter routings on some services. The result is that valuable traffic rights that once supported flights between cities including Beijing, Shanghai and major U.S. hubs are still sitting unused. Air China is expanding while U.S. airlines hold back The contrast is becoming particularly interesting because Chinese airlines are not universally retreating from international flying. Air China said at the end of August that it intends to increase flights to Europe and North America during the second half of 2026 after international routes performed better than its domestic network during the summer. That does not mean U.S.–China capacity is about to return to 2019 levels. Bilateral restrictions still limit how quickly airlines on both sides can expand, while demand and economics determine whether carriers actually want to use the frequencies available to them. For American, Delta and United, the answer this winter is clear: they would rather preserve most of their unused China rights than put more aircraft into the market. That makes U.S.–China aviation one of the clearest exceptions to the broader recovery in global long-haul travel. The flights may be authorized, the aircraft are available and international travel has returned — but more than half a decade after the pandemic, most of the U.S. airlines’ available China frequencies are still not being used.