Flying chartered is a luxury often reserved for rock stars and royalty. But China’s approach to COVID-19, with officials determined to stamp out the virus, means that most of the 3,000 or so skiers, snowboarders, skaters and bobsleigh riders descending on Beijing for the Winter Olympics next month will be arriving on specially arranged flights.
According to version two of the Beijing 2022 playbook — a 70-page guide for athletes and team officials to a "safe and successful Games” — air travel to China’s capital will be possible via charter, temporary and commercial flights. With the playbook also mandating that departures from Beijing be on temporary and charter flights only, and most commercial flights suspended anyway due to the pandemic, chartered is proving a popular option.
Delta Air Lines Inc., official carrier for Team USA, has reached an agreement with the U.S. Olympic Committee to operate a single charter on an Airbus SE A350 to fly athletes and others to the Games from Los Angeles on Jan. 27. It will make a stop in Incheon in South Korea to refuel and change crew. Another flight has been agreed for the 2022 Winter Paralympics that start on March 4.