The United States announced Friday that it will ease the upcoming ban on flights to and from the United States operated by Chinese airlines. Beijing authorized US carriers to resume service between the two countries on Thursday.
The Ministry of Transport (DoT) said on Wednesday that Chinese airlines could no longer serve the United States from June 16 until China gives the green light to Delta Air Lines and United, who had asked in May to resume flights in the country from this June.
After silencing the two companies, Beijing finally responded on Thursday by allowing each American company to operate one flight a week between the two countries from June 8.
American Airlines has not yet decided to resume flights to and from China. Washington, in turn, will allow a total of two flights per week to the United States for all Chinese companies.
The first country affected by the new coronavirus, China has cut itself off from the rest of the world, for fear of further contamination from abroad. Beijing allowed airlines to fly one week to and from a foreign country. But based on a list of airlines in operation as of March 12. However, many foreign companies, especially American, were no longer serving China at that date due to the pandemic.
US officials have also reiterated that Beijing's restrictions on their airlines violate their rights in light of the air transportation agreement signed between the two countries in 1980.
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They said they were ready to change their position again if Beijing did the same. "The main goal of the ministry is not to perpetuate this situation, but to improve the situation so that carriers on both sides can fully exercise their bilateral rights," said the DoT.
De facto, only four Chinese airlines - Air China, China Southern Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and China Eastern Airlines - currently operate flights between the United States and China against zero for their American rivals. Washington sees it as an obstacle to competition.
The Sino-American arms deal in air transport comes at a time when relations between the two countries are strained, especially over Hong Kong. China has decided to impose a controversial national security law on the former British colony that has sparked outcry from some Western countries.
The United States now considers that the territory no longer benefits from the autonomy promised by Beijing and has therefore started to reverse the preferential status it granted to this major financial center.
