US and China in Talks Over New Aircraft Cleaning Policy

The United States and China were in talks regarding China’s new aircraft cleaning policy that resulted in a Delta Air Lines flight returning to Seattle last month, Bloomberg reports.

The flight returned to Seattle while enroute to Shanghai “to be compliant with cleaning mandates required at Shanghai Pudong International Airport that were issued by the Chinese government on Dec. 21,” Delta said in a statement.  The airlines explained that the requirements would have significantly extended the airplane’s ground time and were “not operationally viable.” The Chinese government announced the new cleaning requirements the same day the Delta flight reversed course.

U.S. airlines are experiencing crew shortages due to surging COVID-19 infections and extreme weather. At the same time, China is stepping up border restrictions because of COVID-19 outbreaks and detection of the new omicron virus strain among travelers from other countries, just weeks before the Beijing Winter Olympics are set to begin in early February.

The new Chinese cleaning mandates apply to any airline flying into China. The U.S. is seeking changes to the requirements, since carriers around the world are already performing rigorous disinfecting procedures between flights, according to the U.S. State Department.

Delta is assessing its twice-weekly trips from Detroit and Seattle to Shanghai on a flight-by-flight basis. United Airlines said it is working to comply with the mandate and has not canceled any of its four weekly flights between San Francisco and Shanghai. American Airlines’ twice-weekly flight between Dallas-Fort Worth and Shanghai also is affected, but the carrier has not provided further details.