The U.S. Transportation Department will limit some Chinese carriers to a maximum 40% passenger capacity for four weeks in a tit-for-tat response.
It comes after China’s air regulator imposed flight sanctions on United Airlines after it said five passengers who travelled from San Francisco to Shanghai tested positive for Covid-19.
The US will limit four Chinese carriers to 40% capacity on one China-US flight over a four week period.
The US is the first country to push back on China’s strict rules over positive Covid cases on inbound flights.
China has sanctioned airlines dozens of times in recent months when passengers arrive with negative test results and are then found to be positive after post-arrival tests.
These sanctioned have involved temporary flight bans or are forced to limit passenger capacity for a set period.
The US says it ‘places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travellers that test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival in China.’
