Delta and United caught up in rising US-China tensions

Rising tensions between the United States and China are spilling over into the airline industry. Washington has accused Beijing of blocking American carriers from resuming flights to China, prompting US authorities to more heavily scrutinize Chinese airlines. The tit-for-tat began last week after the US Department of Transportation claimed that regulators in Beijing were "making it impossible" for US carriers to fly between the two countries.<br/>United and Delta want to restart US-China routes in early June and have submitted applications to the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to do so, according to the US DoT. Like other carriers, United and Delta suspended flights to China in February as demand cratered because of the coronavirus. The problem facing the US carriers is that the CAAC, in an effort to stop imported cases of Covid-19, ordered all airlines to use their flight schedules for the March 16-22 week as a benchmark to determine how many flights they could operate to China until further notice. By that date, US airlines had "completely ceased flying passenger service to China," according to the DoT. The CAAC has not responded to United and Delta's requests to resume operations, according the US agency. Meanwhile, several Chinese airlines have continued to fly US-China routes throughout the pandemic. But the Chinese aviation regulator has limited each of them to operating just one weekly flight to the US.<br/>