Originally Posted by
HkCaGu
It wasn't the 5 ones exactly; it's the March 12 baseline that was the problem. If they heeded the USDOT warning, the US might have been satisfied with 4 vs. 2.
No way DOT will accept such unfair arrangement, which violates 1980 US-China Air Route Agreement.
March 12 baseline is not a problem anymore. CAAC agreed to remove that on June 4.
DOT response on June 5: same number of flights!!!
For this, I applaud DOT for protecting interests and equal rights of US carriers.
Originally Posted by
sincx
I suspect the Chinese government is quite happy to agree to 2 weekly flights for each side.
The PRC wants to minimize the risk of returnees spreading the virus, so China would love to stop all inbound flights from countries where COVID is still uncontrolled. But cutting off travel completely makes China look hypocritical (since China criticized other countries for cutting flights back in January) and also pisses off citizens who are stuck outside the country. The 5-1 policy was meant to open the door just enough so overseas student, etc. won't be too pissed off, but still substantially limit risk.
However, if it's the US government that's limiting flights, China can just shrug its shoulders and say "hey that's the best we can do, it's out of our control," and only having 4 weekly flights keeps the number of returnees and the risk of re-seeding COVID to a minimum until a vaccine is found.
.
I am not so sure about this.
Last month CAAC applied to DOT for additional 47 flights to USA effective July 1. Another 45 flights effective Sept. 1.
Info is from DOT, see below for list of routes asked by CAAC.
This is massive amount of flights!!!
