US to suspend all commercial flights to China ahead of Beijing Winter Olympics

Beginning next week, the US is set to suspend all operations of commercial flights to China in the wake of spiking COVID-19 cases in the Asian mainland. The decision comes as Beijing has shut down several provinces, pushing millions of citizens into strict lockdown to keep coronavirus infections at bay ahead of the Winter Olympics 2022. The flight ban will be applicable from January 19 and continue for at least two weeks.

While certain flights were temporarily postponed, many were cancelled adhering to the Beijing-announced revised aviation regulations, CNN Business research of government announcements and published flight schedules. On Friday, only two flights, including one with United Airlines, appeared eligible to operate for the period. The move also comes amid a US-led diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which is to begin from February 4, due to repeated instances of human rights abuse, repression and maltreatment of minority communities, including Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang province.

The disruption in services largely impact the travel plans of US-based Chinese who wished to return to their homeland for the Lunar New Year, the most important holiday for China. "US airlines are concerned about the implication of destruction and a continuing to access the impacts to operations, Airlines of America, a trade group that represents American airlines was quoted as saying by CNN.

'Circuit Breaker'

It is pertinent to mention that the US-announced flight ban to Beijing followed stringent international travel measures applied since June. The Chinese Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had applied a so-called "circuit-breaker" in a move to expedite Beijing's 'Zero-COVID' policy. 'Circuit-breaker' means a flight is automatically suspended for two weeks if five or more passengers test positive upon landing in China. The suspension period increases in case of the positivity rate increases.

Over the time, Chinese have defended the "circuit-breaker" as an "important step to reduce the risk of cross-border spread of COVID-19. "The measures, which are open and fair, apply to both Chinese and foreign airlines. For airlines that do not meet the conditions to trigger the circuit-breaker, China has never replied relevant measures on them," then Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chuying had said in August, as quoted by CNN.

As per Umetrip data, cited by CNN, more than a third of over 9,000 flights from China between December 24 to January 12 was cancelled. During the period an increasing number of people arriving in China from the US tested positive, triggering a wave of flight cancellations by the authorities. China has largely sealed borders since the inception of the COVID pandemic in March 2020. Flights to and from China have been cut back despite international travel resuming in several parts of the world.

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