U.S. Will Limit Some Chinese Carriers to 40 Percent Capacity After United Curb

The U.S. Transportation Department on Wednesday said it will limit some flights from Chinese carriers to 40 percent passenger capacity for four weeks after the Chinese government imposed similar limits on four United Airlines flights.

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

The U.S. order said the department will limit over a four-week period each of four Chinese carriers to 40 percent capacity on a single China-U.S. flight.

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United Airlines said it was “pleased to see this action by the (Transportation Department) in pursuit of fairness in this important market.”

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

The U.S. government says China’s “circuit breaker” policy violates the nations’ air services agreement and “places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travelers that test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival in China.”

The department added 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 traveler may have contracted” the virus.

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

The limits were imposed on four Wednesday 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 Co and Xiamen Airlines.

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

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

In June 2020, the U.S. threatened to bar Chinese passenger flights after Beijing did not immediately agree to restore flights by U.S. airlines.

U.S. carriers voluntary halted flights to China after the coronavirus outbreak. Then-President Donald Trump on Jan. 31, 2020 barred nearly all non-U.S. citizens from traveling to the U.S. who had been in China within the last 14 days.

Those restrictions on Chinese travelers remain in place. The Biden administration in April eased restrictions on Chinese students traveling to U.S. schools effective Aug. 1.

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

(Reporting by David Shepardson; editing by Diane Craft and Lincoln Feast)

This article was written by David Shepardson from Reuters and was legally licensed through the Industry Dive publisher network. Please direct all licensing questions to [email protected].

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