By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. and&nbsp;China&nbsp;will approve twice the number of passenger&nbsp;flights&nbsp;currently permitted for air carriers to fly&nbsp;between&nbsp;the two&nbsp;countries, the Biden administration said on Friday, in a rare sign of cooperation&nbsp;between&nbsp;the world's largest two economies.
The U.S. Transportation Department (USDOT) said it would will increase the number of Chinese passenger&nbsp;flights&nbsp;allowed to fly to the U.S. to 18&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;round-trips on Sept. 1 and increase that to 24 per week starting Oct. 29 , up from the current 12.
It said the Chinese government will&nbsp;agree&nbsp;to the same increase for American carriers, confirming a decision reported earlier by Reuters.
The&nbsp;agreement&nbsp;between&nbsp;Beijing and Washington, which have sparred on many fronts, comes after&nbsp;China&nbsp;on Thursday lifted pandemic-era restrictions on group tours for more&nbsp;countries, including key markets such as the U.S., Japan, South Korea and Australia.
USDOT said the first tranche of&nbsp;flights&nbsp;was approved to start Sept. 1 "to meet an anticipated increase in demand around the start of the academic year."
Sources said U.S. airlines are not expected to immediately take advantage of all 18&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;flights.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington referred questions about specifics to authorities in&nbsp;China, but said "direct&nbsp;flights&nbsp;are essential for increasing mutual visits&nbsp;between&nbsp;Chinese and American peoples. We hope that the restoration of more&nbsp;flights&nbsp;will do good to the flow of people and trade&nbsp;between&nbsp;the two&nbsp;countries."
After Secretary of State Antony Blinken's June trip to the&nbsp;China, consistent engagement by&nbsp;USDOT and the State Department with Chinese officials "made this important step forward possible,"&nbsp;USDOT added.
"Our overriding goal is an improved environment wherein the carriers of both parties are able to exercise fully their bilateral rights to maintain a competitive balance and fair and equal opportunity among U.S. and Chinese air carriers,"&nbsp;USDOT said in its approval order on Friday.
Air&nbsp;China&nbsp;said in a filing with&nbsp;USDOT on Thursday that it was seeking permission to add a new&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;flight&nbsp;between&nbsp;Beijing and Los Angeles.
China&nbsp;Eastern, Xiamen Airlines and&nbsp;China&nbsp;Southern also fly scheduled service to the U.S., while United Airlines, American Airlines and Delta Airlines currently operate passenger&nbsp;flights&nbsp;to&nbsp;China.
United said on Friday it will expand&nbsp;flights&nbsp;between&nbsp;the two&nbsp;countries&nbsp;under the&nbsp;agreement, resuming&nbsp;flights&nbsp;to Beijing and reintroducing its daily service to Shanghai.
Airlines for America, an industry trade group, said it "supports the gradual reopening of U.S.-China&nbsp;air services commiserate with increases in passenger demand over time. Today&rsquo;s modified Order ensures fair and equal opportunity for U.S. airlines to compete in the marketplace."
The 24&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;flights&nbsp;are still a fraction of the more than 150 round-trip&nbsp;flights&nbsp;allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-pandemic.
On May 3,&nbsp;USDOT said it would allow Chinese airlines to increase U.S. passenger services to 12&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;round-trips, equal to the number of&nbsp;flights&nbsp;Beijing has permitted for American carriers. Previously, only eight&nbsp;weekly&nbsp;flights&nbsp;by Chinese carriers were allowed.
U.S. carriers have noted that they cannot fly over Russian airspace to&nbsp;China, which makes some routes much longer. Reuters reported in June Chinese airlines were avoiding flying over Russian airspace in newly approved&nbsp;flights&nbsp;to and from the U.S. but still&nbsp;using Russian airspace for other&nbsp;flights.
(Reporting by David ShepardsonEditing by Marguerita Choy)

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US, China agree to double weekly flights between countries