Air China, Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines have asked the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) for additional time to comment on a tentative decision, issued on October 9, banning these carriers from utilising Russian airspace in their scheduled passenger flights between China and the United States.

The DOT proposed that the ban would become effective 30 days after the issuance of a final order.

The airlines said in the joint filing that the comment period was set for “an unusually short two-business days” and requested that the DOT extend the comment period to seven business days.

The regulator said in its filing that the US-China Civil Air Transport Agreement has provisions such as Article 2(4) which stipulates that the operation of routes over third countries “shall be conducted on routes available to airlines of both parties.” US carriers flying to China have not been able to use the most efficient routes as it involves flying through Russian airspace, and the Kremlin closed its airspace to US airlines on May 17, 2022.

“By comparison, Chinese air carriers face no prohibition on the use of Russian airspace, and this imbalance has become a significant competitive factor in the incremental reopening of the post-COVID US-China air transportation market,” said the DOT. The United States government is now requiring that Chinese carriers also comply with Article 2(4) and avoid flying through Russia, it added.

Both countries currently permit each other’s airlines to provide no more than a total of 50 scheduled, roundtrip flights per week in the US-China market.