US suspends 26 Chinese flights in response to China flight cancellations

The US government said on Thursday it will suspend 26 China-bound flights from the United States by four Chinese carriers in response to the Chinese government’s decision to suspend some US carrier flights over Covid-19 cases. The decision will affect flights by Xiamen, Air China, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines from Sept. 5 to Sept. 28. The USDOT cited the recent cancellation of 26 American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines flights over Covid-19 cases. The suspensions include 19 China-bound flights from Los Angeles and 7 China Eastern flights from New York. The Chinese Embassy in Washington’s spokesperson Liu Pengyu said the USDOT action was “extremely irresponsible” and “groundlessly suspended Chinese airline flights.” The embassy said China’s Covid-19 “circuit breaker” measures were fair and transparent, applied both to Chinese and foreign airlines and were consistent with bilateral air transportation agreements. USDOT said as of Aug. 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. USDOT said the US has repeatedly raised objections with China, saying the rules place “undue culpability on carriers” when travelers test negative before boarding their flight from the United States only to “test positive for Covid-19 after their arrival in China.”<br/>