U.S. suspends 26 Chinese flights in response to China flight cancellations

WASHINGTON, Aug 25 (Reuters)- TheU.S. government said on Thursday it will suspend26 China-boundflights from the United States by fourChinese carriers inresponse to theChinese government's decision to suspend someU.S. carrierflights over COVID-19 cases.

The decision will affectflights by Xiamen, AirChina 601111.SS,China Southern Airlines 600029.SS andChina Eastern Airlines 600115.SS from Sept. 5 to Sept. 28. TheU.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) cited the recent cancellation of26 American Airlines AAL.O, Delta Air Lines DAL.N and United Airlines UAL.Oflights over COVID-19 cases.
The suspensions include 19China-boundflights from Los Angeles and 7China Easternflights from New York.
TheChinese Embassy in Washington's spokesperson Liu Pengyu said the USDOT action was "extremely irresponsible" and "groundlessly suspendedChinese airlineflights."
The embassy saidChina's COVID-19 "circuit breaker" measures were fair and transparent, applied both toChinese and foreign airlines and were consistent with bilateral air transportation agreements.
USDOT said as of Aug. 7Chinese authorities had revised their policies so if the number of passengers on aflight toChina testing positive for COVID-19 reached 4% of the total, oneflight would be suspended. If it reached 8%, twoflights would be suspended.
USDOT said theU.S. has repeatedly raised objections withChina, saying the rules place "undue culpability on carriers" when travelers test negative before boarding theirflight from the United States only to "test positive for COVID-19 after their arrival inChina."
Beijing and Washington have sparred over air services since the start of the pandemic. In January, the Transportation Department suspended 44China-boundflights from the United States by the fourChinese carriers inresponse toChina's decision suspend 44flights byU.S. carriers.
In August 2021, USDOT limited fourflights fromChinese carriers to 40% passenger capacity for four weeks after Beijing imposed identical limits on four United Airlinesflights.
ThreeU.S. airlines and fourChinese carriers typically operate about 20flights a week between the countries, well below the figure of more than 100 a week before the pandemic.