Trump wants to ground Chinese airlines advantage on US routes by making their flights hours longer

• The US Department of Transportation wants to ban Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on US routes.

• The order goals to deal with aggressive disparities confronted by US airlines due to sanctions.

• Chinese airlines have an advantage by avoiding longer, costlier routes around Russia.

A Department of Transportation order issued on Thursday goals to prohibit Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on US routes. Instead, these carriers can be compelled to fly longer, less environment friendly paths — probably including a number of hours of further flight time.

The order targets seven airlines, including Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways was not named.

The DoT said barring Chinese airlines from flying over Russia would deal with a “competitive disparity” for US carriers; it excluded cargo carriers from the order. The company added that Chinese airlines take pleasure in an “unequal” advantage by avoiding the added time and fuel prices of detouring around Russian airspace.

US airlines, such as American, Delta, and United, must fly less economical flight paths as they’re barred from utilizing Russian airspace amid sanctions over the nation’s invasion of Ukraine. It also strains upkeep, plane utilization, and crew relaxation.

United declined to remark. American and Delta referred Business Insider to their commerce group, Airlines for America, which also represents United. “This is an important step that will help ensure U.S. airlines can compete with Chinese carriers on a level playing field,” A4A said in an earlier press assertion. China’s embassy in Washington, DC, didn’t immediately reply to a request for remark.

The transfer comes amid escalating financial tensions between China and the Trump administration.

Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun told GWN on Friday that “barring Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on flights to and from the US would hinder travel and people-to-people exchanges.”

He added that the US ought to take “a hard look at its own policy and the impact on American businesses” instead of “punishing other countries and passengers around the world.”

The DoT wants to even the enjoying subject

Flight monitoring web site Flightaware exhibits that only two of the doubtless affected routes used Russian airspace in October.

This consists of China Eastern’s flight between New York-JFK and Shanghai, as nicely as China Southern’s flight between New York-JFK and Guangzhou.

The two routes are about 15 and 16 hours nonstop, respectively. However, being compelled to skirt Russian borders, ought to the order take impact, might add hours of flight time.

Finnair, for instance, has flown 4 hours longer between Helsinki and Tokyo since Russia closed its airspace to most European carriers. British Airways is including up to an further hour to its flights between London and New Delhi.

Other US-China routes, such as Hainan’s flight between Seattle and Chongqing, Xiamen’s flight between New York and Fuzhou, and Air China’s flight between Washington, DC, and Beijing, all keep away from Russia, according to Flightaware data for October.

US airlines have long complained about Chinas flying

The US Big 3 airlines have long expressed frustration with the Biden-era resolution in 2024 to permit Chinese carriers to operate up to 50 weekly roundtrip flights to the US — up from 35 and matching the quantity allowed for US airlines.

The Big 3 had urged the DoT not to approve the extra flights unless the Chinese airlines averted Russian airspace. That adopted a 2023 settlement in which the US allowed some new Chinese routes on the condition that they didn’t overfly Russia.

The flights aren’t always low-cost, given the few choices. Round-trip fares vary from about $900 from Seattle to Shanghai in mid-November on Delta, to between $1,200 and $1,500 from Los Angeles, relying on the provider. The nonstop flight from New York to Guangzhou on China Southern is almost $2,000.

While Chinese carriers received more flying, US carriers have had to ax some China routes.

Data from aviation analytics company Cirium exhibits that United, for instance, has not resumed flights to China from Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Newark, New Jersey, since the pandemic, but it operates from the West Coast.

Delta still is not working its flight from Atlanta to Shanghai, although it does fly there from Detroit and Seattle.

Despite last 12 months’s increase, flights between the US and China are still recovering from the pandemic. Cirium exhibits there are about 10,000 flights scheduled between the 2 nations in 2025 across both US and Chinese airlines. That’s just 28% of the about 35,500 flights in 2019.

Security considerations of flying over Russia

Beyond financial considerations, there are security implications concerning US-bound flights over Russia. In June 2023 and July 2024, two separate San Francisco-bound Air India flights doubtless carrying Americans had to divert to Russia due to a technical issue.

There was concern that geopolitical tensions might threaten any onboard US residents, though none have been detained, and a reduction aircraft was despatched to rescue the stranded passengers.

However, United CEO Scott Kirby raised questions about permitting overseas airlines to continue flying over Russia on US routes.

“What’s going to happen if an airline lands in Russia with some prominent US citizens on board? That is a potential crisis in the making,” he said after the 2023 event.

It’s not unusual for leaders to block flight paths through their nation due to financial tensions or struggle. The US and Russia have reciprocally blocked their airspace from each other’s home carriers since 2022.

Airspaces across the Middle East have been closed in June and July due to heightened tensions between Iran and Israel.

Meanwhile, Pakistan closed its airspace to Indian airlines in April amid rising tensions in the world, and India responded with its own closure to Pakistani plane soon after.

Those airspace bans have been prolonged until at least late October, forcing carriers like Air India to spend further time and money flying to cities in Europe, North America, Central Asia, and the Middle East. It even suspended its route between New Delhi and Washington, DC in September.

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