Delta to restart flights between US and China

Delta Air Lines on Monday announced it will resume service from the U.S. to China on June 25 following the suspension of those flights since February due to the coronavirus. 

The flight between Seattle and Shanghai-Pudong, China, through Seoul-Incheon, South Korea, will operate twice a week. Delta is the first U.S. airline to restart flights to China.

In July, Delta plans to operate once-weekly flights from Seattle and Detroit to China, which would also fly through Seoul-Incheon. The announcement comes after the Transportation Department announced last week that airlines could continue four flights weekly between the U.S. and China. 

“With a mission to connect the world, Delta is committed to getting our customers to their destinations safely and confidently, especially at this critical time. We are implementing unprecedented health and safety measures and practices, so customers are assured of ease and safety at all points of their journey,” Wong Hong, Delta’s president of Greater China and Singapore, said in a statement on Monday. 

Delta’s health and safety measures include requiring all customers to wear face coverings from checking into flights, to gates, onboarding and throughout the duration of the flight except for during meal service.

It also will be sanitizing all aircrafts, using circulation systems with filters that extract more than 99.99% of particles, adjusting the boarding process from back-to-front, and encouraging customers to pack their own food and beverages to decrease touchpoints. 

Delta is blocking middle seats and will only seat passengers at 60 percent capacity in the main cabin.