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After flight ban threat China opens the door to US airlines
The US will now revise its planned ban on Chinese airlines after Beijing stepped back from the brink and will allow more foreign airlines to fly to the mainland.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China will allow US carriers to restart once-a-week flights to a Chinese city from June 8.
Airlines can progressively increase that number only if no passengers on the flights subsequently test positive for Covid-19.
If no passengers test positive for three consecutive weeks flight frequencies can be doubled, although if there are positive tests, service may be temporarily suspended.
The row escalated after repeated requests for Delta and United Airlines to resume China flights were either denied or ignored.
That led the US department of transportation to announce a ban on Chinese airlines from operating flights to and from the US, in retaliation.
The DOT claimed China was violating a binding bilateral Air Transport Agreement.
"Some progress has already been made in the arrangements. China has also announced adjustments of its policies. We hope the United States will not create obstacles for solving the problem," said ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
Four Chinese carriers currently fly direct to the US.
In its initial order to ban Chinese airlines the DOT said it ‘will allow Chinese carriers to operate the same number of scheduled passenger flights as the Chinese government allows ours’ which at that point was zero.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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