China on Tuesday ordered the suspension of six more U.S. flights in the coming weeks after a surge in passengers who tested positive for the new coronavirus, bringing the number of flights already largely cancelled this year to 70.
China’s aviation regulator said it will suspend United Airlines starting the week of Jan. 24 after seven passengers on a recent flight tested positive.UAL-US) 2 flights from San Francisco to Shanghai.
From the week of January 31, China Southern Airlines (600029-CN) will also suspend four flights from Los Angeles to Guangzhou, a move that will also affect return flights in February.
Before the latest flight cancellation order, three U.S. airlines and four Chinese airlines operated about 20 weekly flights between the U.S. and China, down from more than 100 weekly flights before the pandemic.
China has also suspended air routes with other countries. 12 It also suspended six flights from France and Canada.
But the number of cancelled flights in the U.S. has surged since December as the number of confirmed cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the virus soared to a record high.
Beijing and Washington have been at odds over air service since the outbreak began. After Beijing imposed a 40% capacity limit on four United Airlines flights last August, the U.S. Department of Transportation imposed the same limit on four flights from Chinese airlines for four weeks.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said in September that China had almost completely closed its borders to air travelers, reducing the total number of international flights to just 200 per week, or 2 percent of pre-pandemic levels.
Analysts said that China’s mandatory zero-clearing policy prevented the further spread of the new coronavirus that emerged in Wuhan two years ago; but the practice of preventing and blocking everywhere has also made the Chinese economy quite fragile.
Hong Kong, a major transport hub, last week announced a two-week ban on flights from eight countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
A search on China’s popular travel site Ctrip showed few direct flights from the U.S. to China until the end of January.