Chinese carriers are protesting the short window provided by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) to comment on a proposed rule banning flights to and from the USA through Russian airspace.
The airlines say the ban proposed by the Trump administration would disrupt travel already booked by both American and Chinese passengers. Such a ban would go into effect 30 days after approval.
A group of seven Chinese airlines signed a 10 October letter to the DOT requesting additional time to consider its order to “restrict the very limited number of Chinese carriers flights through Russian airspace, which the department has permitted since May 2022”.
“The order sets an unusually short two-business day comment period,” the airlines say.
Signed by Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, the letter requests an extension to seven business days, allowing the airlines more time to review the operational impact of quickly ceasing US flights that cross Russian airspace.
Air China says that it is “assessing the impact of the proposed restriction but requires more than two business days to complete its assessment and prepare meaningful response to the order”.
The Trump administration maintains that Chinese carriers have held a competitive advantage by operating over Russian airspace, whereas US carriers have been bound from doing so since early 2022, when Russian began its invasion of Ukraine.
Some of the most-efficient routes between the USA and China involve flying through Russian airspace, allowing Chinese carriers to offer shorter flight times to travellers.
“Chinese air carriers face no prohibition on the use of Russian airspace, and the imbalance has become a significant competitive factor in the incremental re-opening of the post-Covid US-China air transportation market,” the DOT says.
China and the USA currently prevent airlines from operating more than a combined total of 50 daily round-trip flights between the two countries.
