China Eases Restrictions For Foreign Airlines After US Bans Chinese Carriers

The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced on Thursday, hours after Washington said it would suspend Chinese passenger airlines from flying to the United States, that it would ease COVID-19 pandemic restrictions to allow more foreign carriers fly to the country

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) announced on Thursday, hours after Washington said it would suspend Chinese passenger airlines from flying to the United States, that it would ease COVID-19 pandemic restrictions to allow more foreign carriers fly to the country.

The US Department of Transportation proposed on Wednesday suspending all scheduled Chinese civilian airline flights to and from the US. At the moment, only four Chinese airlines and no US ones are operating regular flights between the two countries. The order suspending the Chinese services may be implemented on June 16, or sooner.

China's civil aviation regulator said on Thursday that foreign carrier would be allowed once-a-week flights into one city of their choosing starting on Monday. There are 32 cities on the list of allowed destinations including Beijing, Shanghai, Shijiazhuang, Wuhan and Zhengzhou.

The CAAC noted in the statement that the list could change in accordance with the epidemiological situation.

The authority added that airlines would need to strictly comply with the coronavirus preventive measures, and if there were no COVID-19 cases detected during flights to the chosen destination in China for three consecutive weeks, the airline then would be allowed to operate up to two flights a week to that city. However, if there are up to five passengers with positive coronavirus test results, the airline will have to suspend flights for a week, and if the number of infected people reaches 10, the flights will then be suspended for a month.

Airlines that could previously fly to the same destination in China once a week, are now allowed to choose a different city from the new list.

In March, the CAAC ordered that each foreign airline operate only one route to China with no more than one flight per week. Each Chinese airline was, too, only allowed to maintain one route to any country with no more than one weekly flight.