Due to restrictions on Russian airspace, airline hubs in US no longer provide connections between the US East Coast and major Chinese cities, requiring them to take longer detours and incurring higher operational costs.
Airline hubs in US no longer have flights in the East Coast to China (Photo: BBC News)
The reason why airline hubs in US no longer have flights from the east coast to China
According to industry experts and the flight tracking website FlightAware, Chinese airlines are apparently avoiding flying via Russian airspace on recently permitted flights to and from the United States.
In retaliation for Washington’s ban on Russian aircraft over the U.S. in March 2022 following the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, Russia has prohibited American airlines and other foreign carriers from flying over its airspace. Records from FlightAware reveal that flights from Chinese airlines that Washington just cleared are not crossing into Russian airspace, but flights from airline hubs in Us that Washington previously approved are still doing so.
As of May 3, the U.S. Chinese airlines will be allowed to operate 12 weekly roundtrips to the United States, identical to the number of flights Beijing has approved for airline hubs in US, according to the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT). Only eight flights per week operated by Chinese airlines were permitted in the past.
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Airline hubs in US flights from the east coast to China
All of the main airline hubs in US operated flights to China in 2018 from hub airports on the US East Coast. These flights were frequently overbooked and sold tickets for rates that reached hundreds of dollars. At this time, all US carriers have discontinued their services between the East Coast (particularly New York) and significant Chinese cities.
However, Chinese airlines still operate these direct routes. Airlines Air China, China Eastern Airlines, XiamenAir, and China Southern Airlines all offer nonstop service to cities in the Asian country from John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). What, then, led airline hubs in US to stop operating flights between New York and the East Coast of America and China?
After Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, western countries retaliated by forbidding Russian planes from flying across their airspace. As a result, Russia placed comparable limitations on US and European airlines using Russian airspace. Many airline hubs in US’ routes to Asia are already required to take detours that completely avoid crossing the country’s airspace.
