US Airlines, Unions Urge Biden Administration To Stop Additional Flights To China

Several major U.S. airlines, along with certain unions representing their workers, have urged the Biden administration to cease granting approval for additional flights connecting the United States and China, citing "anti-competitive" policies enforced by China against U.S. carriers.

On Thursday, Airlines for America (A4A), The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA), Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) and Allied Pilots Association (APA) sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg regarding this issue.

In the letter, they allege that China restricted access to its market for U.S. carriers at the onset of the pandemic and introduced regulations that continue to impact the operations of American airlines and their personnel.

According to the U.S. airlines, their Chinese counterparts enjoy a competitive advantage by operating shorter routes through Russian airspace, a route that has been inaccessible to U.S. carriers since Russia's invasion of Ukraine over two years ago.

They also claimed that Chinese airlines benefit from "certain protections" afforded by the Chinese government due to their state ownership.

The U.S. industry groups said that without equitable access to China's aviation market, American carriers stand to lose flights to Chinese airlines.

"These actions demonstrated the clear need for the U.S. government to establish a policy that protects U.S. aviation workers, industry and air travelers," the airlines and the unions said in a letter.

The carriers urged the administration to temporarily suspend further passenger flights between the the two countries until U.S. workers and businesses receive assurances of equal access in the marketplace, free from the adverse anti-competitive policies enforced by the Chinese government.

The volume of flights between China and the United States has been on the rise, albeit significantly lower than pre-pandemic levels. In February, the U.S. Transportation Department announced that Chinese passenger airlines would be permitted to increase their weekly round-trip flights to the United States to 50, effective March 31. This represented an increase from the existing 35 flights per week.

U.S. carriers were also granted authorization to operate 50 flights per week, although they are currently not utilizing all of these allocated flights.

The U.S. companies are expressing concerns that the Biden administration may increase or potentially double the number of weekly flights allowed for Chinese carriers to 100.