U.S. airlines blame China for canceling flights to China: consistent throwing of the pot

Zhu Zhanliang, civil aviation observer

On December 26, the Consulate General of the People's Republic of China in San Francisco issued a reminder to passengers visiting China in the near future to pay close attention to flight changes. In the tip, the Consulate General of San Francisco said that many flights from the United States to China have been delayed or cancelled recently, and even the situation of flying halfway and then turning back, reminding passengers to pay close attention to the flight situation and pay attention to the validity period of overseas health code application and nucleic acid testing. Delta responded that China changed its epidemic prevention regulations, resulting in flight cancellations and returns.

The halfway flight mentioned by the consulate was Delta DL287, scheduled to depart from Seattle on Dec. 21 via Seoul, South Korea, to Shanghai's Pudong Airport. The flight was supposed to depart on the 21st, but Delta canceled the flight on the 21st and made up flight on the 23rd. However, when the make-up flight took off on the 23rd, it was suddenly announced that it would return to the United States halfway through the flight, and many passengers on board had expired their visas and could not re-enter the United States. On the 28th, the Chinese Embassy in the United States issued a statement on the incident, saying that the various acts of the US airlines have caused huge losses to Chinese passengers, and will actively provide assistance to passengers and protest to airlines.

There is no way to talk about the sudden change in epidemic prevention regulations that Delta mentioned. According to the information released on the official website of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the current aviation epidemic prevention guidance document implemented by China is still the "Technical Guidelines for Epidemic Prevention and Control of Transport Airlines (Eighth Edition)" revised and issued on September 23. This document is currently the epidemic prevention measures and disinfection requirements of the Civil Aviation Administration of China for all China-related flights and airlines. Since its release on September 23, it has not been revised, and the airline is still implementing the eighth edition of the standard.

If the change in epidemic prevention regulations leads to the return of flights, it will never only be the US flights that will be affected, and in fact, other countries will not be affected by this. Taking Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Shanghai Pudong store LH728 as an example, on FR24 it can be found that the flight took off from Frankfurt to Shanghai Pudong on December 22, and the flight arrived on time. Everyone is facing the same epidemic prevention standards, how can Lufthansa land safely, but Delta Air Lines can't?

In addition, American Airlines flight AA127, which also took off on December 23, used the same route as the return DL287, namely the United States - Seoul, South Korea - Shanghai Pudong. AA127 successfully flew to Shanghai Pudong and landed after stopping in Seoul, South Korea, and did not occur in the so-called "adjustment of epidemic prevention policy and not allowing entry". All the other airlines flew to and landed at Shanghai Pudong Airport in China, but Delta claimed that it could not fly to Pudong because of the adjustment of epidemic prevention policies.

Looking at the recent situation of the US aviation industry, it is not a very surprising thing that the large number of US flights to China has been cancelled. The Christmas holiday as the "Spring Festival" of family reunions in Europe and the United States should be the peak of flight travel, and in the Christmas weekend of 2021, more than 1,800 flights in the United States were cancelled. Which airline cancels the most flights during the Christmas holidays? That's right, Delta Air Lines. Delta canceled 539 flights during the Christmas season, including international and domestic flights, the highest in the United States. Most of the CANCELLED US flights to China are also cancelled during the Christmas peak period, which is extremely coupled in time.

So why is there a large-scale cancellation of flights in the United States during the "Spring Festival", the most exuberant period of flights in Europe and the United States? The reason is simple: it has to do with the massive ravages of the New Coronavirus's Opmikharong variant in the United States. Since the discovery of the Omiljunn variant in many parts of the United States on December 5 and community transmission has been confirmed, the number of new COVID-19 cases in the United States has been increasing every day. According to worldometer statistics, there were 298,000 new confirmed cases in the United States on December 24, close to the previous record of 306,000 new cases per day on January 8, 2021. The deadliest for the United States is the record high of "active cases" (confirmed but unhealed cases). On December 27, there were 11.62 million "active cases" in the United States, exceeding the high of 9.04 million "active cases" on January 24, 2021, which means that the number of "sick" people in the United States has reached a new high since the COVID-19 pandemic.

In less than a month, The Omiqueron swept through the United States, reminiscent of the scene when the Delta virus was raging in the United States in June and July this year, and the Omilon was more powerful than the Delta. As a position in the transportation industry that is in close contact with a large number of people, the probability of being infected by Aviation industry personnel is much higher than that of ordinary people. This also means that when new and active cases hit new and active cases in the United States, the number of confirmed cases of staff in the US aviation industry also hit a new high, and the proportion is higher than the national average. At present, the CDC's epidemic prevention policy requires that if you are fully vaccinated and then test positive for the new crown, you need to stay at home for 10 days. A large number of ground service personnel and crew members were infected by the Aomi Kerong variant as confirmed cases, making it impossible for them to work. Previously, the United States has experienced a large shortage of manpower in all walks of life, and the outbreak of the epidemic has aggravated this situation. The large shortage of manpower has left U.S. airlines with insufficient pilots to fly flights and not enough ground service personnel to guarantee flights, which has led to a "bloody Christmas" (flight cancellations shown in red) in the United States.

Delta Air Lines was the first airline to "explode" due to a shortage of manpower, and the departure point of Seattle Airport was the hardest hit area. It can be said that the fundamental cause of this incident is caused by the failure of the United States to face the epidemic prevention of the Omicron variant, and throwing the pot to China can only be said to be the consistent face of the United States. If the United States does not improve the domestic epidemic prevention and control situation, the situation will only become more serious as the Aumicron variant ravags in the United States. (Editor-in-charge: Tang Hua)