In May, the US Department of Transportation approved an increase in the number of flights on the China-US route for the first time since the relaxation of pandemic restrictions. The four Chinese airlines - Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines - will each increase their weekly China-US flights by one.

However, these routes seem to be subject to certain restrictions. Previously, foreign media revealed that the newly approved additional flights by the US would require avoiding flying over Russian airspace, but this condition was not explicitly mentioned in the official approval documents. At that time, it was widely believed that the new China-US routes would not need to bypass Russia.

Today, there are reports stating that newly approved flights operated by Chinese airlines between China and the US will need to avoid Russian airspace. However, the existing China-US flights that are already in operation do not need to avoid Russian airspace. Domestic airlines have confirmed this information.

Fact check and impact analysis

According to the plans submitted by the four airlines, the four new routes are:

Among these four routes, except for China Eastern Airlines' Shanghai to Los Angeles route, the other three routes previously passed through Russian airspace.

After checking the flight routes since the increase in flights starting from May 27th, it appears that the routes for the three airlines have indeed changed.

After bypassing Russian airspace, the flight time for Air China's Beijing to New York route is now around 14.5 hours, while the New York to Beijing flight time has increased to approximately 15.5 hours, adding about an extra hour and a half compared to the previous routes that flew over Russia.

For China Southern Airlines' added flight on May 29th, the Guangzhou to Los Angeles route (CZ327/8) did not originally pass through Russian airspace, but now it bypasses Russian airspace on the return trip. However, the original CZ327/8 flights on Saturdays/Sundays still pass through Russian airspace on the return trip.

Interestingly, bypassing Russia on May 30th saves approximately 20 minutes compared to the flights on May 28th that flew over Russian airspace.

From the current situation, it appears that if the newly added China-US flights need to avoid Russian airspace, it would have the greatest impact on Air China, as the return route from New York without passing through Russia would not be cost-effective.

Find more news about Asian aviation here.

The US government's pressure

According to reports, this demand for flights not to cross Russian airspace was jointly proposed by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Republican Senator James Risch.

The proposal urges the Biden administration to ensure that international flights departing from or arriving in the United States do not cross Russian airspace. It also calls on the government to strongly discourage US citizens and permanent residents from taking flights that pass through Russian airspace.

The proposal stated two reasons:

1. It creates unfair competition for US airlines. Since March 2022, the US and Russia have mutually prohibited each other's flights from crossing their respective airspace. However, other countries still allow flights to pass through Russian airspace, especially flights from East Asia to Europe and the eastern United States. For example, a flight from Shanghai to New York would take about 15 hours if it crosses Russian airspace over the North Pole, while it would take about 18 hours if it goes through Alaska. US airlines can only go through Alaska, creating a difference in both time and economic costs, leading to unfair market competition.
2. There are safety concerns. The senators mentioned safety issues in their letter. They cited the example of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 being shot down by a missile, resulting in the deaths of 298 people. They also mentioned the incident where Belarus ordered a flight to make an emergency landing under false pretenses in order to arrest a passenger.

The senators argue that the Biden administration should take proactive measures to protect Americans from such significant risks and address the unequal disadvantages faced by US companies in foreign competition.

Source: Reuters