US cuts capacity of four Chinese airlines, after similar move by Beijing

WASHINGTON • The US Transportation Department will limit passenger capacity on some flights from Chinese carriers to 40 per cent for four weeks after the Chinese government imposed similar limits on four United Airlines flights.

China told United on Aug 6 that it was imposing sanctions after it alleged that five passengers who travelled from San Francisco to Shanghai had tested positive for Covid-19 on July 21.

The US order on Wednesday said the department will limit over a four-week period each of four Chinese carriers to 40 per cent capacity on a single China-US flight.

United Airlines and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

According to the US government, China's "circuit breaker" policy violates the nations' air services agreement and "places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travellers that test positive for Covid-19 after their arrival in China".

The department added that carriers "have no means to independently verify positive test results alleged by Chinese authorities. Furthermore, there is no way to establish where or when a traveller may have contracted" the virus.

The Chinese authorities gave United three options: cancel two San Francisco to Shanghai flights; operate two without passengers; or operate four flights with passenger capacity of up to 40 per cent.

The limits were imposed on four United San Francisco-Shanghai flights, beginning with an Aug 11 flight.

The Biden administration said it will impose identical limits on four flights over four weeks - one each from Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

The limits come as many Chinese students are headed to the US for the start of fall classes.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, China and the US have sparred over air services.

In June last year, the US threatened to bar Chinese passenger flights after Beijing did not immediately agree to restore flights by US airlines.

US carriers voluntarily halted flights to China after the coronavirus outbreak.

Then President Donald Trump on Jan 31 last year barred nearly all non-US citizens from travelling to the US if they had been in China within the last 14 days.

Those restrictions on Chinese travellers remain in place. The Biden administration in April eased restrictions on Chinese students travelling to US schools effective Aug 1.

A long-standing air agreement between China and the US allows both countries to operate more than 100 weekly flights between the two nations but only a fraction of those are currently operating.

REUTERS