US suspends 26 Chinese flights in response to flight cancellations in China

The US government announced on Thursday that four Chinese airlines will suspend 26 flights from the US to China in response to the Chinese government's decision to suspend flights of some US airlines due to COVID-19 cases.

The decision will affect Xiamen, Air China (OTC:AIRYY), China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines (NYSE:CEA) flights between September 5 and September 28. The US Department of Transportation (USDOT) cited the recent cancellation of 26 American Airlines (NASDAQ:AAL), Delta Air Lines (NYSE:DAL) and United Airlines flights due to COVID-19 cases. https://twitter.com/livemint/status/1562996327705104384 The suspended flights include 19 flights from Los Angeles to China and 7 flights from New York to China Eastern. Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said USDOT's action is "highly irresponsible" and "suspends Chinese airline flights in an unfounded manner." China's COVID-19 "circuit breaker" measures are fair and transparent, applied to both Chinese and foreign airlines, and consistent with bilateral air transportation agreements, the embassy said. USDOT said that as of August 7, Chinese authorities have revised their policies so that if the number of passengers testing positive for COVID-19 on a flight to China reaches 4% of the total number of passengers, one flight will be suspended. If it reached 8%, two flights would be suspended. The USDOT said the US has repeatedly appealed to China and that the rules "impose unnecessary liability on carriers" if passengers test negative before boarding a flight from the US but "test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival in China". Beijing and Washington have been sparring over air services since the start of the pandemic. In January, the Department of Transportation suspended 44 flights of four Chinese carriers from the US to China in response to China's decision to suspend 44 flights of US carriers. In August 2021, USDOT limited four flights of Chinese carriers to 40% passenger capacity for four weeks after Beijing imposed the same restrictions on four flights of United Airlines. The three US airlines and four Chinese carriers typically operate about 20 flights per week between the two countries, well below the pre-pandemic figure of more than 100 per week.   Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!