US hits back at China’s alleged attempts to restrict airlines

Growing tensions between the US and China have expanded to the airline industry as the DoT accused its counterpart in Beijing of blocking American carriers’ attempts to resume service there. The DOT late on Friday announced that China had violated a bilateral agreement allowing airline service between the two countries by failing to respond to requests by Delta and United. China “impaired the operating rights of US carriers and denied them the fair and equal opportunity to exercise their operating rights,” the department said in a notice posted to a government website. The order stopped short of imposing any restrictions or penalty on the four airlines from China serving US markets, but is a warning after repeated objections by the US failed to get action, the government said. It requires the Chinese carriers to notify the department of their schedules and any proposed changes they intend. China’s embassy in Washington didn’t immediately respond to an email requesting comment. Starting in February, the US began restricting arrivals of people from China to prevent the spread of the virus. Flights between the two countries fell from about 325 per week in January to only a few dozen. Earlier this year, China set March 12 as a baseline for resumption of service between the two countries. Because Delta, United and American Airlines Group Inc. had already halted service to the Asian nation by then, it put them at an unfair disadvantage, the DOT said.<br/>