Photo: Courtesy of the Shanghai Airport Immigration Inspection Station

There could be more charter flights from the US to China, not only to Beijing but also to other areas, a member of the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) Northeast Chapter hinted on Thursday.

Executives and staff of US companies based in the northeast region of China shared their experience of bringing foreign employees back to China during an online session on Thursday.

Responding to the Global Times' question on potential charter flights, Ladon Ghalili, director of Epoch Technologies and chairman of the executive committee of AmCham China Northeast Chapter, said that the first flight AmCham China arranged was intended to see how successful it was in a bid to bring more employees back to Beijing and other areas of China.

"I can't see any reason why the northeast or other regions cannot work together to operate a charter flight with the benefit of this experience," Ghalili said, hinting at future plans for charter flights that will fly directly to the northeast region in China.

The AmCham China organized a charter flight carrying 87 passengers, which landed in Beijing on Sunday. It was the first US multi-company charter flight from outside China to its capital city Beijing since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak and since China closed its borders to foreign nationals in March.

"Thank you, AmCham team, turning impossibility into reality. I thought my earliest time to be back is after the Chinese New Year!" a passenger on the flight said, AmCham China reported on Thursday.

As for the visa issue, Ghalili added that her company, as a member of AmCham, has a close relationship with the local government, which has done much to help bring back Epoch's employees.

Apart from Epoch Technologies, Intel's first memory fabrication site - Intel Dalian Memory Technology & Manufacturing - is located in Northeast China's Liaoning Province. Other US companies also have offices in Dalian, including Dell Technologies, Oracle and Microsoft.

Blair Lee, principal of the Dalian American International School and member of the executive committee of AmCham China Northeast Chapter, said the school has not yet brought back all its foreign employees to China.

"The AmCham China flight that landed in Beijing on Sunday was limited to foreign employees living and working in Beijing, which did not work for us. We have worked with a travel agent that can manage charter flights or commercial flights from the US and also Europe," Lee said. The school is located in Liaoning.

Now the problem is mainly with the visa process. The waiting time at Chinese consulates in the US has gotten longer and longer, as more and more people have received letters of invitation for work visas, said Lee.

Global Times


Newspaper headline: More charter flights from US expected: AmCham