U.S., China agree to expand airline flights
The United States and China have reached an agreement to increase flights between the two countries, operating at eight flights per week. Yahoo Finance’s On The Move panel share the details.
Video Transcript
- The US and China are now adding more flights. They're doubling the number of flights between the two countries. Adam, you covered the airlines closely. And so, I mean-- I'm-- this is fascinating to me, especially at a time when travel between the US and other countries is not flowing, right? And with the rhetoric going on that you are seeing this travel happening.
- Yeah it's a sign, too, that the Chinese economy has started to grow, and re-open, and that they might have the virus under control. So what you've got is an agreement that they will double from four to eight flights per week between either country's airlines. And we had United Airlines announced yesterday that their first flight to Shanghai is going to take off from San Francisco on September 4.
Tickets go on sale today for that flight. So this is the slow ramping up of international travel. But you know, deep breath here, we had news from Southwest today. They're cutting capacity, and that's domestic, because travel is not recovering at the levels they thought it would.
And you have the push in Congress from all the airlines for an additional $25 billion in assistance. Because the October 1, it's September 30, but October 1 deadline is fast approaching, at which point 75,000 employees at all the airlines have been told you may be laid off.
Your job gone for good, because they don't have the funding to go forward. So if they get another $25 billion, the airlines are telling Congress, and it's also the labor unions for the airlines, they can push that deadline to March, at least.
And at least keep some of these people on the benefits side of the payroll package. A lot are taking voluntary leave right now, but still have their benefits, with the idea they'll get called back to work. Final note on all this, though, nobody expects airline travel to be back to pre-pandemic levels till 2024.
