Trump Bans Chinese Airlines From Flying to the United States

The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) announced that all regular flights by Chinese civilian airlines to and from the United States will be suspended beginning June 16.

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“Responding to the failure of the Government of the People's Republic of China to permit U.S. carriers to exercise the full extent of their bilateral right to conduct scheduled passenger air services to and from China, is suspending the scheduled passenger operations of all Chinese carriers to and from the United States,” the DOT stated.

President Donald Trump administration's decision affects Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines.

On March 26, as part of its measures to prevent new imported COVID-19 cases, China issued regulations that reduced foreign flights to one a week per country.​​​​​​​

Later, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines pressed China to recover their routes without success because the Chinese authorities have not approved the resumption of operations.

According to the U.S. government, however, this decision violates a 1980 bilateral agreement that establishes the right for companies to operate different services in their territories.​​​​​​​

“U.S. carriers have asked to resume passenger service, beginning June 1. The Chinese government’s failure to approve their requests is a violation of our Air Transport Agreement,” the DOT argued, as reported by 1470 WJDJ.​​​​​​​