A flight info board reveals a cancelled China Eastern Airlines flight at the Kunming Changshui International Airport on March 21,2022 The U.S. federal government stated on Thursday it will suspend 26 China- bound flights from the United States by 4 Chinese providers in action to the Chinese federal government’s choice to suspend some U.S. provider flights over Covid-19 cases.
Str|Afp|Getty Images
The U.S. federal government stated on Thursday it will suspend 26 China- bound flights from the United States by 4 Chinese providers in action to the Chinese federal government’s choice to suspend some U.S. provider flights over Covid-19 cases.
The choice will impact flights by Xiamen, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines fromSept 5 toSept 28. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) mentioned the current cancellation of 26 American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines flights over Covid-19 cases.
The suspensions consist of 19 China- bound flights from Los Angeles and 7 China Eastern flights from New York.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington’s representative Liu Pengyu stated the USDOT action was “extremely irresponsible” and “groundlessly suspended Chinese airline flights.”
The embassy stated China’s Covid-19 “circuit breaker” steps were reasonable and transparent, used both to Chinese and foreign airline companies and followed bilateral air transport arrangements.
USDOT stated sinceAug 7 Chinese authorities had actually modified their policies so if the variety of travelers on a flight to China screening favorable for Covid-19 reached 4% of the overall, one flight would be suspended. If it reached 8%, 2 flights would be suspended.
USDOT stated the U.S. has actually consistently raised objections with China, stating the guidelines put “undue culpability on carriers” when tourists test unfavorable prior to boarding their flight from the United States just to “test positive for Covid-19 after their arrival in China.”
Beijing and Washington have actually sparred over air services considering that the start of the pandemic. In January, the Transportation Department suspended 44 China- bound flights from the United States by the 4 Chinese providers in action to China’s choice suspend 44 flights by U.S. providers.
In August 2021, USDOT restricted 4 flights from Chinese providers to 40% guest capability for 4 weeks after Beijing enforced similar limitations on 4 United Airlines flights.
Three U.S. airline companies and 4 Chinese providers generally run about 20 flights a week in between the nations, well listed below the figure of more than 100 a week prior to the pandemic.
