Talks are under way between the US and China on possible changes to the Chinese government’s new aircraft-cleaning requirements that prompted a Delta Air Lines Inc flight to turn back to Seattle and that could trigger the cancelation of some flights to the Asian nation.
The discussions were confirmed on Tuesday by a US Department of State official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The new sanitation mandates — spurred by the spread of COVID-19 — significantly extend the time planes are on the ground and largely copy steps that US airlines already take to clean between flights, representatives for the industry said.
Photo: AP
There also is a shortage of available workers to carry out the added steps, they said.
The new requirements are part of the changes that countries and industries are making to try to slow the spread of the highly contagious Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2.
China has been stepping up border restrictions because of Delta variant outbreaks and detection of the new strain among foreign travelers ahead of the Beijing Winter Olympics in early February.
Hong Kong is to mandate a three-day hotel quarantine for air-cargo crews to thwart transmission of Omicron.
The US is seeking changes to the new Chinese cleaning mandates, since rigorous disinfecting procedures already are performed between flights by carriers globally, the official said.
Airlines implemented extensive onboard cleaning protocols early in the pandemic.
Delta’s service to China “remains very fluid” as it evaluates the change in procedures that caused it to turn around a flight to Shanghai on Tuesday last week, returning the plane to where it took off in Seattle.
The carrier is assessing its twice-weekly trips from Detroit and Seattle to Shanghai on a flight-by-flight basis, a spokesman said on Tuesday.
United Airlines Holdings Inc said it is working to comply with the mandate that was put in place last week, and has not canceled any of its four weekly flights between San Francisco and Shanghai.
American Airlines Group Inc’s twice-weekly flight between Dallas-Fort Worth and Shanghai is also affected, the carrier said, without providing further details.
In Asia, ANA Holdings Inc has delayed departure times for flights out of Shanghai and Guangzhou since Wednesday last week to allow for the time it takes to clean the planes, a spokesman for the Japanese carrier said.
Japan Airlines Co’s passenger flights to and from China are operating normally, although inbound air cargo into the country has been restricted, a spokesman said.
It was not immediately clear what sanitation procedures authorities in China recently put in place. A spokesman for Shanghai’s airport declined to comment earlier.
A spokeswoman for the Civil Aviation Administration of China referred to a COVID-19 control protocol issued in September.
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