【Text by Observers Network, Deng Jun; Editor by Zhao Qiankun】

Recently, a message from the Trump administration about prohibiting Chinese airlines from flying over Russian airspace on flights between China and the United States has drawn high attention from the civil aviation industries of China and the United States.

According to the latest report by international aviation media Flightglobal, China International Airlines, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines have jointly signed a letter addressed to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), requesting the DOT to give more time for comments, so that the airlines can have more time to assess the impact of the sudden stop of U.S. flights passing through Russian airspace on their operations. The seven Chinese airlines all believe that once this ban is implemented, it will definitely harm the public interest and severely disrupt the travel plans of passengers who have already booked flights between China and the United States.

The report also cited a statement from China International Airlines, saying that the U.S. Department of Transportation's document set an unusually short two-day comment period. China Air is assessing the impact of the proposed restrictions, but completing the assessment and preparing a substantive response requires more than two working days. Therefore, China International Airlines has submitted a motion, hoping that the U.S. Department of Transportation will extend the comment period to seven working days.

China Air's motion submitted to the U.S. Department of Transportation

Civil aviation commentator Zhang Zhonglin told Observers Network that it is expected that even if Chinese airlines stop flying the China-U.S. route, they will not compromise with this unreasonable demand of the U.S. Department of Transportation. This move may be beneficial for transit countries such as Japan and South Korea.

"If Chinese airlines compromise with this unreasonable demand at this time, they will be in a very passive position," Zhang Zhonglin said. The worst-case scenario is that the relevant departments of China may also issue equivalent flight bans against American airlines. Moreover, similar policies of mutual retaliation have been seen in the recent years of Sino-U.S. rivalry.

Information from the U.S. government regulatory website Regulations.gov shows that the U.S. Department of Transportation has published a document proposing to prohibit Chinese airlines from flying over Russian airspace when operating flights between China and the United States, and requiring Chinese airlines to respond within two working days. The U.S. Department of Transportation also stated that the final decision could take effect as early as November this year.

Reuters' report suggests that this move by the U.S. comes at a time when relations between the two countries are increasingly tense due to a series of trade issues, and this ban may affect some U.S. flights of China Air, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, and Xiamen Airlines.

DAST of Flight Manager

Data provided by DAST of Flight Manager to Observers Network shows that as of September 2025, there were a total of 826 flights between China and the United States, with 21 routes served, and 9 airlines operating (6 Chinese airlines and 3 American airlines). Among them, the proportion of flights actually operated by Chinese airlines was 50.73%, while the proportion of flights actually operated by American airlines was 49.27%.

Some analysts say that if the U.S. Department of Transportation's ban is indeed implemented, Chinese airlines may consider rerouting through other areas, such as the southern part of Siberia or Mongolian airspace. However, this would increase the flight time and fuel costs for Chinese airlines. For example, on the Beijing-New York route, flights might need to fly 2 hours longer, increasing fuel costs by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On October 10th, Beijing time, Guo Jia Kun, spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, responded to a question from Reuters, stating that the U.S. imposing restrictions on the operations of Chinese airlines is not conducive to personnel exchanges between the two countries. "We suggest that the U.S. should reflect on the impact of its policies on its own companies, rather than unfairly suppressing others and making global consumers pay."

Additionally, on the public comment page of the document published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, many American netizens' comments pointed out the main negative impacts of the document, including: significantly extending flight time, reducing travel efficiency; reducing travel choices, increasing ticket prices, reducing market competition; causing adverse environmental effects. They also urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to reconsider and revoke or at least suspend the implementation of the document.

Some American netizens believe that after being prohibited from using Russian airspace, American airlines did not compete through innovation or service improvements, but instead tried to "level the playing field" by limiting passenger choices.

Other American netizens pointed out that the U.S. Department of Transportation's document does not care about public interests, but is based on geopolitical factors.

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7560638247572701748/

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