The approval “is a significant step forward in further normalisation of the US-China market in anticipation of the Summer 2024 traffic season,” the department said.

More than 150 weekly round-trip passenger flights were allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but until August 2023, Chinese and US carriers could each fly only 12 a week between the two countries.

The number rose on Sept 1 to 18 weekly round trips and then to 24 per week starting Oct 29. The transportation department approved 35 for Chinese carriers in November.

A group representing major US airlines did not immediately comment.

Reuters reported last June that newly approved Chinese flights to the US were not overflying Russia, which would have given them a shorter flight time and fuel advantage over US rivals blocked from Russian airspace.

The transportation department said it was engaged in a productive dialogue with China’s aviation regulator towards the “implementation of a roadmap to provide for a gradual, broader reopening of the US-China air services market and a phased and predictable return to the capacity entitlements” specified under a US-China agreement.

On a trip to China last year, US commerce secretary Gina Raimondo said she wanted to boost travel and tourism between the two countries.

If China returned to 2019 US tourism levels, it would add US$30 billion to the US economy and 50,000 US jobs, Raimondo said in August.

China last month simplified visa applications for tourists from the US cutting the number of documents required.

The move was the latest by China to revive tourism and boost the world’s second-largest economy following a slump during the pandemic.

The number of inbound tourists to the country plummeted during that period due to the country’s strict Covid control policies.