Home ›› 23 May 2020 ›› World Biz
The US Transportation Department on Friday (May 22) accused the Chinese government of making it impossible for US air carriers to resume service to China and ordered Chinese air carriers to file flight schedules with the US government.
The administration of President Donald Trump stopped short of imposing restrictions on Chinese air carriers but said talks with China had failed to produce an agreement.
The US Transportation Department, which is trying to persuade China to allow the resumption of US passenger airline service there, earlier this week briefly delayed a few Chinese charter flights for not complying with notice requirements.
In an order posted on a US government website and seen by Reuters, the department noted Delta Air Lines and United Airlines want to resume flights to China in June, even as Chinese carriers have continued US flights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The order said Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines and their subsidiaries must file schedules and other details of flights by May 27. The department warned it could find Chinese flights "contrary to applicable law or adversely affect the public interest".
United declined to comment. The other US and Chinese carriers, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) and China's foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The department said in a statement it has "protested this situation to the Chinese authorities, repeatedly objecting to China’s failure to let US carriers fully exercise their rights and to the denial to US carriers of their right to compete on a fair and equal basis with Chinese carriers" and called the situation "critical".
On Jan 31, the US government barred from entry most non-US citizens who had been in China within the previous 14 days but did not impose any restrictions on Chinese flights. Major US carriers voluntarily decided to halt all passenger flights to China in February.
(Source: CNA)
