The US Department of Transportation plans to issue a revised order in the next few days that is likely to allow some Chinese passenger airline flights to continue, US government and airline officials said.
On Thursday, China said that it would ease COVID-19 restrictions to allow in more foreign carriers, shortly after Washington said that it planned to bar Chinese passenger airlines from flying to the US by June 16 due to Beijing’s curbs on US carriers.
The change should allow US carriers to resume once-a-week flights into a city of their choice starting on Monday, but that would be still significantly fewer than what the US government says its aviation agreement with China allows.
The department did not immediately comment.
The department on Wednesday said that Chinese carriers could operate “the same number of scheduled passenger flights as the Chinese government allows ours.”
The order was to “restore a competitive balance and fair and equal opportunity among US and Chinese air carriers,” it said.
The US order would halt the four weekly US round-trip flights by Air China (中國國際航空), China Eastern Airlines Corp (中國東方航空), China Southern Airlines Co (中國南方航空) and Xiamen Airlines Co (廈門航空).
US and airline officials have privately raised concerns about the revised Chinese rules and it is unclear if carriers would agree to fly just once a week to China when they have sought approval for two or three daily flights.
Delta Air Lines and United Airlines asked to resume flights to China this month.
Both said that they were reviewing the order from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
American Airlines is sticking with its previous plan to resume service to China at the end of October, company spokesman Ross Feinstein said.
The CAAC said that all airlines can increase the number of international flights involving China to two per week if none of their passengers test positive for COVID-19 for three consecutive weeks.
RECORD BUDGET: TSMC does plan to raise its proposed capital expenditure a lot, and could benefit if Intel outsources more of its production to foundries, analysts said Intel Corp’s earnings conference call on Thursday is expected to clarify the US semiconductor giant’s outsourcing production plans, which would be crucial regarding Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) performance, analysts said. “TSMC stands to benefit if Intel outsources more of its fabrication to foundries,” SinoPac Securities Investment Service Corp (永豐投顧) analysts said in a note on Friday. Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co (元大投顧) was more cautious, saying that Intel’s contribution initially would be limited, but its outsourcing plans would still highlight TSMC’s leadership in technology, it added. “Intel will continue to manufacture server or high-end central processing units [CPUs], which have higher
MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday announced it would give incentive bonuses totaling NT$1.7 billion (US$59.7 million) to its employees and those at the firm’s major subsidiaries, after the smartphone chip supplier’s revenue hit US$10 billion last year. This is the biggest incentive bonus the Hsinchu-based handset chip designer has ever distributed in its 23-year history. About 17,000 full-time employees of MediaTek and five of its subsidiaries, including Richtek Technology Corp (立錡科技) and Airoha Technology Corp (絡達科技), would receive a “red envelope” of NT$100,000 each, the company said. “Surpassing US$10 billion is just the beginning. We will continue to [grow] on this basis,” MediaTek
TO SPUR REVENUE: The contract chipmaker expects its profit to grow 15 percent this year, outpacing the foundry industry’s projected advance of about 10 percent Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday raised its projected capital spending for this year by 62 percent, a new high, in an attempt to satisfy customer demand for advanced technologies in the production of central processing units, high-performance-computing (HPC) devices and 5G applications. After investing US$17.24 billion last year, TSMC this year plans to spend US$25 billion to US$28 billion on manufacturing equipment and new facilities, including a fab in the US. About 80 percent of the budget would be allocated for developing advanced technologies including 3, 5 and 7-nanometer technologies, the company said. The larger-than-expected capital spending prompted speculation
Norway’s oil and gas reserves have made it one of the world’s wealthiest countries, but its dreams for deep-sea discovery now center on something different. This time, Oslo is looking for a leading role in mining copper, zinc and other metals found on the seabed and in hot demand in green technologies. The country could license companies for deep-sea mining as early as 2023, the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy said, potentially placing it among the first countries to harvest seabed metals for electric vehicle batteries, wind turbines and solar farms. However, that could also place it on the front line of