The US Department of Transportation noted in a tentative order on Thursday a "desire... to prevent competitive imbalances arising between US and Chinese air carriers as a result of unequal access to third-country airspace."

Crossing Russia is "the most effective route" between some destinations in China and the United States, but the document said Russia had "closed its airspace to US air carriers" since May 2022 -- shortly after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, which resulted in US sanctions.

"We have tentatively determined that the practice by some Chinese air carriers in exercising Russian overflights in the conduct of certain China-US scheduled combination service is unfair and has resulted in substantial adverse competitive effects on US air carriers," it said.

The companies that would be affected had been given two business days to file comments, with the transportation department promising to "afford full consideration to the matters or issues raised by the objections before taking further action."

China's foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told a news conference in Beijing on Friday that American "restrictions on Chinese airline operations are detrimental to personnel exchanges between the two countries."

"We suggest the US reflect on the impact of its own policies on its own businesses, rather than unreasonably suppressing other countries and leaving global consumers to foot the bill," he said.

The US proposal comes as Washington and Beijing work to negotiate a deal to end a bruising trade war, with a truce on most reciprocal tariffs extended to November 10.

The Department of Transportation's document lists the companies that would be affected by the decision as Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

burs-ami/pbt

AIR CHINA