Why is the United States suspending flights to China operated by Chinese companies?
Washington announced the suspension of 44 passenger flights from the United States to China due to the health restrictions related to Covid-19, which Beijing imposed on American airlines.
China imposes very strict control over entry to its territory, including canceling flights if the number of coronavirus cases on any plane is high.
The Chinese Aviation Authority used this policy to cancel the flights of “American”, “Delta” and “United” airlines, after it was proven that passengers had negative test results before take off, and their result was positive in terms of infection with Covid upon their arrival in China.
The US Department of Transportation wrote that this action is contrary to the public interest and harms Delta, American and United operations and requires corrective action by the Department. "US companies that follow all Chinese rules regarding pre-flight and presence protocols should not be penalized," the US Department of Transportation wrote. On board the aircraft, if passengers test positive for COVID-19 upon arrival.
The 44 flights related to the measure were to be operated by Air China, China Eastern Airlines and China Southern Airlines, as well as Xiamen Airlines, and were scheduled to operate between January 30 and March 29. The move came less than three weeks before the start of the Winter Olympics being hosted by Beijing.
The Chinese government has described Washington's decision to suspend 44 flights of Chinese airlines to the United States as "completely unreasonable". A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington said that the policy of banning some flights after the discovery of COVID-19 cases "has been applied equally to Chinese and foreign airlines in a fair, open and transparent manner."
"It is absolutely unreasonable for the United States to suspend China Airlines flights on this basis. We urge the US side to stop disrupting and imposing restrictions on Chinese airlines' regular passenger flights," he added.