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A senior Air China executive lamented declining air passenger numbers between the US and China and a lack of progress in addressing bilateral civil aviation issues. Between 2010 and 2017, the number of Chinese visitors to the US ballooned from 735,000 to 3.2 million, driven by a rapidly expanding Chinese middle class and a move by former US President Barack Obama to streamline applications for foreign tourist visas from affluent Chinese visitors. Total US spending by Chinese visitors grew from just over billion in 2010 to over billion in 2017. During those years, “a lot of money was spent. We bought a lot of airplanes and a lot of goodwill was generated,” Air China VP-North America Zhihang Chi said during a Nov. 7 speech at the International Aviation Club of Washington DC. “I don’t think anybody in this audience would dispute that this was a success story for both countries and an example of successful policymaking.” The growth trend reversed in 2018 for the first time in more than a decade, when total passengers from China to the US dropped to 3 million. While some of the declines were the result of a slowing Chinese economy and depreciating yuan, Chi said the US-China trade war and souring of bilateral relations have contributed to the drop-off in air travel between the two countries. Read Original Article |
