China will ease its ban on foreign airlines starting June 8, changing course a day after the Trump administration demanded the country reopen to US airlines or face curbs on its own carriers flying passengers to America.
Foreign airlines excluded from an earlier pact will be able to operate one commercial passenger flight to China a week, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said. It didn’t name any countries or carriers, but the move opens up a chance for US airlines to return for the first time in four months.
While the timing may have been coincidental, it appeared as a concession from China just as tensions between the superpowers intensify. The nations are locked in a tussle that began over trade but escalated to include Beijing’s handling of the coronavirus and its treatment of Hong Kong. The friction puts the phase one trade deal signed on January 15 in jeopardy, along with billions of dollars in Boeing Co aircraft sales. “China and the US should use this opportunity to restore high-level and diplomatic communications as soon as possible,” said Zhu Feng, director of the Institute of International Studies at Nanjing University. “Both sides should cut short the hawkish and emotional rhetoric, as they’re against the business interests of both.”
Flights can land in 37 Chinese cities, including Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan, where Covid-19 first emerged. That list could change in the future, CAAC said.
If no passengers on a particular route test positive for coronavirus for three consecutive weeks, the operating airline can increase services to twice a week, CAAC said. However, a route would be suspended for a week if five passengers on the same flight tested positive. If 10 test positive, the route will be halted for four weeks. CAAC estimated average daily inbound air passengers would climb to 4,700from June 8, up from 3,000 currently. That compares with more than 25,000 a day before the pandemic. A total of 95 foreign airlines will be allowed to resume flights to China, it said.
China already allowed flights from some foreign airlines under a policy introduced in March that limited them to one trip a week and didn’t allow them to operate more services than they had scheduled on March 12.
US carriers missed out because they’d suspended passenger services to and from China because of the coronavirus pandemic, which devastated the global aviation industry as countries imposed travel restrictions and demand disappeared.
Washington’s order on Wednesday would stop passenger services by Chinese airlines starting June 16, though President Donald Trump could impose the ban sooner if he chooses. The order stops short of an outright ban, allowing Chinese carriers to operate one flight to the US for each flight that China grants to American carriers.
By Thursday afternoon, flights between China and the US was one of the most popular topics on China’s Twitter-like site Weibo, as users debated whether CAAC’s announcement was yielding to Washington’s threats or was a sign of Beijing taking back control and incentivising airlines to control virus risks.
A China Eastern Airlines aircraft and Shanghai Airlines aircraft are seen in Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai yesterday. China will ease its ban on foreign airlines starting June 8, changing course a day after the Trump administration demanded the country reopen to US airlines or face curbs on its own carriers flying passengers to America.
