China easing airline access amid conflict with Washington

Chinese regulators said Thursday more foreign airlines will be allowed to fly to China as anti-coronavirus controls ease but it was unclear wher change will defuse a fresh conflict with Trump administration over air travel.

anuncement came after Washington said Wednesday it would bar four Chinese airlines from United States because Beijing was failing to allow United Airlines and Delta Air Lines to resume flights to China.

Airlines that were flying to China when controls were imposed in March were allowed to keep making one flight per week. United and Delta had suspended ir flights before that and asked permission to resume.

Airlines that aren’t on March list can make one flight per week starting Monday, Civil Aviation Administration of China said on its website.

anuncement appeared to open door to United and Delta but CAAC gave indication which carriers were affected. An employee who answered phone at CAAC said she had details. She would give only her surname, Yan.

Asked what it heard from Chinese regulators about its status, United said in a statement, “We look forward to resuming passenger service between United States and China when regulatory environment allows us to do so.”

dispute adds to U.S.-Chinese strains over trade, techlogy, Taiwan, human rights and status of Hong Kong.

All foreign carriers authorized to fly to China will be allowed to increase to two flights per week if y go three weeks with passengers testing positive for virus, CAAC said. It said a route will be suspended for one week if number of passengers who test positive reaches five.

Ahead of Chinese anuncement, U.S. Transportation Department accused Beijing of violating a 1980 agreement on air travel. It said in response, Chinese carriers would be allowed same number of flights as Beijing permitted for U.S. airlines.

department said President Donald Trump could put order into effect before June 16. department protested last month that Beijing was preventing U.S. airlines from competing fairly against Chinese carriers.

four airlines affected by order are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Sourn Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Chinese ministries of commerce and transportation didn’t immediately respond to questions about how Beijing might react.

Before pandemic, re were about 325 passenger flights a week between United States and China, including ones operated by United, Delta and American Airlines. While U.S. carriers stopped flying, Chinese airlines made 20 weekly flights in mid-February and 34 by mid-March.

Transportation Department said it objected to China’s March limit but Beijing responded last week that it was t violating air-travel treaty because same one-flight limit applies to Chinese airlines.

United and Delta anunced last month that y hoped to resume flights to China in June, as air travel has begun to recover recently. United wants to fly from San Francisco to Shanghai and Beijing and from Newark, New Jersey, to Shanghai. Delta seeks to resume flights via Seoul to Shanghai from Seattle and Detroit.