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Delta Air Lines and United Airlines cleared to restart China services
June 19th 2020
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines (UA) look set to resume flights from the U.S. to China after receiving clearance from Mainland authorities this week. Read More »
In late May, Delta announced plans to offer scheduled passenger flights to Shanghai Pudong from Detroit and Seattle from June after suspending all services to China in response to the coronavirus pandemic. It was forced to push back the launch of the two services due to delays in obtaining approval for the flights from Chinese authorities.
The U. S. Department of Transportation (DoT) claimed the failure of Delta and UA to receive approval was a violation of the air transport agreement between the two countries.
In response, the DoT first imposed an extra administrative burden on Chinese carriers flying to the U.S. which required them to file their existing schedules and apply for permission to operate new routes at least 30 days before inauguration of the service.
Then, in an escalation of the conflict between the two sides, the DoT said it would ban all Chinese airlines from flying into the country later this month. The proposed ban was followed almost immediately by the Civil Aviation Administration of China’s (CAAC) decision to ease some of the restrictions on international services to and from China.
Specifically, the new regulations would allow all foreign airlines to operate one flight a week to China, scrapping a previous requirement that the airline had an existing service to China on March 12.
As a result, the DoT dropped plans to ban all Chinese carriers and added it had received confirmation from the CAAC on June 15 that U.S. airlines seeking approval to fly to China had been granted all the necessary operating permissions by the relevant Chinese authorities for four flights a week. DoT too would allocate Chinese airlines four flights a week to the U.S.
Delta told the Reuters news agency it would begin flying twice a week from Seattle to Shanghai, via Seoul Incheon, next week. In July, the schedule would change to one flight a week to Shanghai from both Detroit and Seattle, again via Seoul Incheon.
Similarly, UA said it was planning to start its San Francisco-Shanghai service in the weeks ahead.
While airlines of both countries are only permitted four flights a week now, the DoT said this week it would continue to press for full restoration of passenger air travel between the U.S. and China.
"As the Chinese government allows more flights by U.S. carriers, we will reciprocate," the DoT said in a statement.
