Newly approved US flights by Chinese airlines avoid Russian airspace

Chinese airlines are avoiding flying over Russian airspace in newly approved flights to and from the United States, according to flight tracking website FlightAware and industry officials. Russia has barred US airlines and other foreign carriers from flying over its airspace, in retaliation for Washington banning Russian flights over the U.S. in March 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine. FlightAware records show Chinese flights recently approved by Washington are not flying over Russia, while previously approved Chinese airline US flights are still using Russian airspace. On May 3, the US DoT said it would allow Chinese airlines to increase US passenger services to 12 weekly round-trips, equal to the number of flights Beijing has permitted for American carriers. Previously, only eight weekly flights by Chinese carriers were allowed. USDOT Assistant Secretary for Aviation and International Affairs Annie Petsonk declined to answer a question about whether the Biden administration had required that the Chinese carriers avoid Russian airspace as a condition of approving four new flights. Petsonk said the gradual rise to 12 flights for China and the United States "is the kind of measured pace that we are likely to see". The 12 weekly flights are a small fraction of the more than 150 round-trip flights allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.<br/>