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US suspends 26 Chinese flights in response to China flight cancellations.
The United States government is suspending 26 flights by Chinese airlines from the US to China in a dispute over anti-virus controls after Beijing suspended flights by American carriers.
The decision will affect flights by Xiamen, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines from September 5 to September 28.
The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) cited the recent cancellation of 26 American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines flights as its motivation behind the move.
The Chinese Communist Party’s “zero COVID” strategy aims to keep the virus out of China while other governments are shifting to living with the disease.
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USDOT said as of August 7, Chinese authorities had revised their policies so if the number of passengers on a flight to China testing positive for Covid-19 reached 4% of the total, one flight would be suspended. If it reached 8%, two flights would be suspended.
The agency said it has repeatedly raised objections with China, saying the rules place “undue culpability on carriers” when travellers test negative before boarding their flight from the United States only to “test positive for Covid-19 after their arrival in China.”
China’s actions are “premised on circumstances wholly outside of the carriers’ control,” the USDOT statement said.
“We reserve the right to take additional action” if Beijing imposes “further circuit-breaker measures.”
This is not the first time Beijing and Washington have sparred over air services since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In January, the Transportation Department suspended 44 China-bound flights from the United States by four Chinese carriers in response to China’s decision suspend 44 flights by US carriers.
