Major U.S. airlines and aviation unions on Thursday urged the Biden istration to suspend approvals for additional flights between China and the United States, citing ongoing “anti-competitive Chinese government policies.”
In February, the US Department of Transportation said Chinese enger airlines could increase weekly round-trip US flights to 50 from March 31, up from the current 35, about a third of pre-US levels. pandemic. North American carriers were also authorized to operate 50 flights per week, but currently do not use all of these flights.
Airlines for America, a trade group whose include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, and unions in a letter to the Transportation and State departments cited the advantage that Chinese airlines receive by continuing to access Russian airspace, while US carriers stopped flying through Russian airspace at the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in March 2022.
The letter was signed by the Air Line Pilots Association, Allied Pilots Association and Association of Flight Attendants. He called on Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to “halt additional enger flights between the United States and the People's Republic of China until U.S. workers and businesses are guaranteed equal market access, free from the harmful anti-competitive policies of the Chinese government.
Flights between China and the United States – which have been a point of contention during the COVID-19 pandemic – have emerged as a rare area of cooperation between the two superpowers, but US airlines have expressed concern about the rapid pace of the increase. of flights.
Airlines fear the Biden istration could increase or even double to 100 the number of weekly flights allowed by Chinese carriers.
Separately, U.S. Rep. Mike Gallagher, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, and the 's top Democrat, Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, urged the Biden istration in a separate letter on Wednesday not to approve any more flights until China complies with “its existing bilateral agreement, and enger demand begins to recover.”
The lawmakers said Chinese carriers “operate routes with an anticompetitive commercial advantage that should not increase without reciprocal parity in the number of routes operated by U.S. carriers” to China. It added that “American engers should not be exposed to unnecessary security risks when crossing Russian airspace.”
More than 150 weekly round-trip enger flights were allowed by each side before restrictions were imposed in early 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but until August 2023, Chinese and US carriers were each allowed to fly just 12 per week between the two countries.
The number increased on 1 September to 18 weekly return journeys and then to 24 per week from 29 October. The USDOT approved 35 for Chinese airlines in November.
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