US airline group objects to Air China request for extra flights

Airlines for America, a trade group whose members include American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and United Airlines, said it formally objected this week to a request by Air China for two additional operations on routes linking Beijing with New York and Washington.

The request coincides with a meeting between Chinese president Xi Jinping and US president Donald Trump.

In its filing, the group said the services should not be added to regular commercial schedules. Putting them in published timetables could set a precedent for Chinese carriers to seek more scheduled flights later, it said, and operations it called one-off in nature should be handled as charter flights instead.

At the core of the dispute, the association said, are differing operating conditions on long-haul routes. US carriers are barred from Russian airspace, while Chinese airlines continue to use it on several services to and from the United States. According to the group, that restriction effectively prevents US airlines from running commercially viable routes from the US east coast to China.

Airlines for America said Chinese operators benefit from routes it called shorter, less costly and more economical.