Two giant pandas from China have landed in Washington, marking the first time the American capital has welcomed a new set of furry diplomats from Beijing in 24 years.

The National Zoo's long dark panda drought is coming to an end. Eleven months after the zoo sent its three wildly popular pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, a new pair of bears arrived in the United States on Tuesday.

Two giant pandas began their journey from China to Washington, DC, on Monday, nearly a year after Chinese authorities took back a previous pair and prompted fears that the National Zoo would never see the much-beloved animals ever again.

A pair of giant pandas left China on Monday for the National Zoo, taking up residence in the nation’s capital weeks before the U.S. presidential election.

Bao Li and Qing Bao, both three years old, left the giant panda research base in Dujiangyan, a city near the bears’ native habitat in the mountains of southwest China, on Monday night local time. They boarded a specially chartered FedEx Boeing 777 cargo jet dubbed the “Panda Express” early Tuesday morning local time and took off for Washington.

Bao Li and Qing Bao, both three, departed the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda on Monday evening local time in Dujiangyan. They’re scheduled to arrive in the US on Tuesday via a Fedex Boeing 777 cargo jet dubbed the “Panda Express.