Chinese Airlines Blocked From Flying to United States

Chinese airlines will be soon blocked from flying to the U.S. as travel tensions between the two countries continue. The Transportation Department said it would suspend passenger flights of four Chinese airlines to and from the United States starting June 16. The department said President Donald Trump could put the order into effect before June 16.

The decision comes after China’s failure to allow United Airlines and Delta Air Lines resume flights to China this month. The airlines suspended those flights earlier this year in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Transportation Department said that China was violating an agreement between the two countries covering flights by each other’s airlines. Before the pandemic, there were about 325 passenger flights a week between the United States and China.

“The Department will continue to engage our Chinese counterparts so both U.S. and Chinese carriers can fully exercise their bilateral rights,” the agency said in a statement, as reported by AP. “In the meantime, we will allow Chinese carriers to operate the same number of scheduled passenger flights as the Chinese government allows ours.”

The four airlines affected by the order are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.