Trump Proposes Ban On Chinese Airlines Flying Over Russia On US Routes

UNSPLASH/Tianlei Wu ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The Donald Trump administration proposed banning Chinese airlines from flying over Russia on routes to and from the United States.

The reason for the proposed ban was due to the reduction in flight time that this practice could harm American airlines.

This proposal is another escalation of the world's two largest economies and was announced after Beijing on Thursday tightened control over exports of rare earth metals crucial for some US industries.

US airlines have long criticized the decision to allow Chinese airlines to use Russian airspace on US routes for providing them with benefits in the form of reducing flight time and saving fuel, thereby lowering costs.

Russia has banned US airlines and many other foreign airlines from flying its airspace in retaliation for Washington's ban on Russian flights in US territory in March 2022 after the country invaded Ukraine.

China's airlines are not banned and have taken advantage of this advantage to increase its market share compared to non-Chinese airlines on international routes.

The US Department of Transportation said Thursday in its proposed order the current situation was "unfair and had resulted in substantially detrimental competition impacts for US airlines."

As reported by Reuters on Friday, October 10, a proposal to ban Chinese airlines from using Russian airspace on US routes comes amid rising tensions between Beijing and Washington over a series of economic problems.

Boeing is in talks to sell as many as 500 jets to China, which will be a major breakthrough for the company on the world's second-largest aviation market, where orders have stalled amid tensions in US-Chingkok trade.

US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to hold a face-to-face meeting in South Korea at the end of October.

The Department of Transportation has given Chinese operators two days to respond to their proposals and said the final order could take effect no later than November.