WASHINGTON: The United States Department of Transportation said on Friday it would suspend 44 flights that were bound to China from four Chinese operators in response to the Chinese government’s decision to suspend several US carrier flights to Covid-19.
Biden administration action came after China’s authority suspended 20 United Airlines, 10 American Airlines and 14 Delta Air Line flights since December 31 after several passengers were positively tested for Covid-19.
The transportation department said recently on Tuesday that the Chinese government had canceled US flights.
The suspension will begin on January 30 with Xiamen Airlines flights’ scheduled Los Angeles-to-Xiamen and run until March 29.
The decision will cut several Xiamen, Air China flights, China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not comment immediately.
The department said France and Germany had taken similar actions against Covid-19 China’s actions.
The transportation department says China’s suspension of flight 44 “is detrimental to public interest and guarantees proportional improvement actions”.
This adds that “unilateral action against US operators named is not consistent” with bilateral agreements.
China has also suspended US flights by Chinese operators after passengers were then tested positive.
The department said that if China revised “its policy to realize the situation needed for US operators, the department is fully prepared to once again review the action”.
But it also warned that if China canceled more flights, “we have the right to take additional actions”.
China has all except covering its borders to travelers, cutting total international flights up to only 200 per week, or 2% of the pre-pandemic level, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) said in September.
The US aviation removed number has surged since December, because the infection caused by an omicron variant is very contagious from Coronavirus soaring to record the highest in the United States.
Beijing and Washington have debated air services from the beginning of the pandemic.
In August, the US transportation department limited four flights from China’s operators to 40% passenger capacity for four weeks after Beijing imposed a limit identical to four United Airlines flights.
Before the recent cancellation, three US airlines and four Chinese operators operate around 20 flights a week between countries, far below the figure of more than 100 per week before the pandemic.