China 'Blinks' In The face Of US Restrictions

What a difference a few days make... The U.S. Department of Transportation took regulatory action on June 3rd in response to the failure of China to permit U.S. carriers to perform scheduled passenger air services in accordance with China’s obligations under the U.S.-China Air Transport Agreement.

On June 4th, the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) responded by revising its restrictions to permit U.S. carriers the ability to operate one flight per week each, starting June 8, 2020. The revisions to the Notice also include “incentive measures” that would allow a carrier to increase or, alternatively, require it to decrease weekly frequencies based on criteria relating to the health status of China-arriving passengers on its flights.

In addition, carriers seeking to serve a particular Chinese port of entry must secure permission from provincial authorities, in addition to the standard approval from CAAC.

As a result of China’s 'willingness' to permit U.S. carriers the opportunity to operate one weekly passenger flight each, the Department revised its June 3rd Order today in order to grant Chinese carriers, in aggregate, the right to operate two weekly passenger flights to the United States.

Specifically; the mod allows the Chinese carriers currently providing scheduled passenger air services between the United States and China, in accordance with the schedules that were filed pursuant to Order 2020-5-4, to operate, in the aggregate, a total of two weekly round-trip scheduled passenger flights to and from the United States. CAAC may communicate to the Department by letter which carrier(s) it selects to operate each or both of these two services. This selection may be modified with 30 days’ written notice to the Department in advance of the proposed operations.

FMI: https://www.transportation.gov/briefing-room/notification-and-order-disapproving-schedules