*

Canada in 2022 curbed Chinese carriers to six weekly

flights

*

Canadian carriers still at disadvantage due to Russian air

space

restriction

*

Chinese carriers applying for more flights into China -

CAAC

news

(Writes through, adds flight data)

HONG KONG, Oct 30 (Reuters) - Air Canada ( ACDVF ) will increase

direct flights between China and Canada from December, the news

arm of China's aviation regulator said on Wednesday, after

Ottowa last week removed a 2022 limit on how many services

Chinese carriers could fly to Canada.

CAAC News, the official newspaper of the Civil Aviation

Administration of China, said the increased flights between

China and Canada would bolster trade and their economies and

promote further recovery of China-Canada air transport.

Flights between Canada and China did not ramp back up after

COVID-era travel restrictions ended and are around 90% lower

today than in 2019.

Air Canada ( ACDVF ), which currently flies four times a week from

Vancouver to Shanghai, will operate seven flights a week from

Dec. 7 and will resume flying every day from Vancouver to

Beijing from Jan. 15, 2025, CAAC news said.

Chinese airlines are accelerating applications for

additional flights, the article added.

Air Canada ( ACDVF ) did not immediately respond to a request for

comment.

AIR SPACE CHALLENGE

In 2019 Air Canada ( ACDVF ) was flying up to 35 times a week to China

- including from Toronto - while Chinese carriers operated 76

direct round-trip flights, Cirium flight schedule data shows.

China in 2022 all but shut its borders to travellers due to

a zero COVID policy and suspended many inbound flights.

Canada in February 2022 said Chinese carriers could fly only

six round trips a week into Canada, and there could be no direct

flights between Canada and Beijing.

These restrictions were lifted on Friday, a Canadian

Transportation Agency order said.

Canadian carriers are at a disadvantage to Chinese carriers

because they have not been able to fly over Russian air space

since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022.

This makes Canadian flights to China out of Toronto, in

Canada's east, commercially unattractive due to the extended

flight time.

Chinese carriers have continued to take shorter northern

routes to Europe and North America over Russia's vast airspace

and have over time gained market share from non-Chinese carriers

due to this competitive advantage.

FRICTIONS

Despite the continued frictions over trade, Canada this year

had agreed to stabilise bilateral ties with China, committing to

"pragmatic" engagement with the world's second-largest economy.

Beijing has also agreed to normalise relations with Ottawa,

after Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly's July visit to

China, the first by a Canadian foreign minister in seven years.

Bilateral relations, established in 1970, turned icy in 2018

after Huawei's Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou was arrested

in Canada and China subsequently arrested two Canadians in

China. All three were later released, but Ottawa's allegations

of Chinese interference in Canada have kept relations strained.

Both countries have seen heightened trade friction in recent

months after Canada said it was "absolutely" considering banning

Chinese-made software in EVs, among measures to counter what it

calls overcapacity and a security threat.

Beijing in September launched an anti-discrimination

investigation amongst restrictive measures taken by Canada,

including additional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, steel

and aluminium products.