Beijing urged Washington to stop interfering and restricting the normal flow of trade routes served by its domestic carriers between the two countries.
Its call followed the White House’s decision to suspend the routes of Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines, scheduled from January 30 to next March 29.
The US Department of Transportation said Friday that it took the action in reciprocity to a similar one applied by China to Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines, because they recently transported passengers with Covid-19.
According to the claim, China’s actions violated treaties on airline access between the two countries.
In the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, the two powers had other frictions over passenger flight operations due to sanitary protocols.
msm/ymr