US and China regulators reopen some air routes, letting some carriers to fly again as they back off from aviation standoff

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Holdings were each allowed to mount two weekly services to China, as the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) yielded to US lobbying

The US Department of Transportation responded overnight by doubling the number of Chinese flights to the US to four a week

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An Air China aeroplane on the runway at Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing on 23 March 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 11:49am, 16 Jun 2020Updated: 9:53pm, 16 Jun 2020

Aviation regulators of the United States and China have stepped back from their stand-off to allow each other’s airlines to add flights in the lucrative US-China route, giving stranded carriers the fighting chance to survive the worst slump in the global travel industry.

Delta Air Lines and United Airlines Holdings, the two largest US carriers by market capitalisation, were each allowed to mount two weekly services to China, as the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) gave in to US lobbying, Caixin reported without saying where it got its information. The US Department of Transportation responded overnight by doubling the number of Chinese flights to the US to four a week.

“As the Chinese government allows more flights by US carriers, we will reciprocate,” the American regulator said, adding that it would continue to pursue the full restoration of passenger air travel between the two nations.

The reciprocal moves reflect the horse trading that the world’s two largest economies have to engage in, as they each struggle to restore growth amid the slump created by the coronavirus pandemic. Global airlines, facing an industry-wide loss of US$314 billion in 2020 passenger revenue, need up to US$200 billion to survive the pandemic, according to a March 18 estimate by the International Air Travel Association (Iata), the industry guild. The US government has set aside a US$29 billion fund for the four largest American carriers including Delta and United to help them survive.

Air China and China Eastern planes wait at the gates at Los Angeles International Airport on September 27, 2019. Photo: AFP

“The focus of bilateral aviation policies had shifted to the US reluctance to open up demand because of perceived imbalances in the [reciprocal air rights], from the pre-coronavirus dialogue which mainly concerned procedures to further open up air rights and market share between the US and China,” said Yu Zhanfu, a partner at the consultancy Roland Berger in Shanghai. “In the short term there would not be big frictions on air right, but minor frictions may continue.”

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