(Original title: The United States plans to ban Chinese airlines from crossing Russian airspace, and Chinese airlines jointly replied)

► Observer.com Deng Jun Editor Zhao Qiankun

Recently, the news that the Trump administration plans to ban Chinese airlines from flying over Russian airspace when flying to and from the United States has aroused great concern in the Chinese and American civil aviation industries.

According to the latest report of Flightglobal, an international aviation industry media, a few days ago, Air China, Beijing Capital Airlines, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines and Xiamen Airlines jointly signed a letter to the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT), asking the U.S. Department of Transportation to give more time to respond to comments, so that airlines can have more time to assess the impact of rapidly stopping U.S. flights crossing Russian airspace on operations. Seven Chinese airlines agreed that once the ban is implemented, it will certainly harm the public interest and seriously disrupt the travel plans of Chinese and American passengers who have booked flights.

The report also cited reports from China International Aviation that the U.S. Department of Transportation documents set an unusually short two-day review period. China Airlines is evaluating the impact of the proposed restriction measures, but it takes longer than two working days to complete the evaluation and prepare a substantial response. Therefore, China International Aviation has submitted the motion, hoping the U.S. Department of Transportation will extend the review period to seven working days.

Screenshot of the motion submitted by Air China China to the U.S. Department of Transportation

Civil aviation commentator Zhang Zhang Lin told the Observer Network that it is expected that China Airways will not compromise with the U.S. Department of Transportation on this ban even if it stops flights to China and the United States, a move that may be beneficial for such countries as Japan and South Korea.

¡°If at this time China Airways compromises this unreasonable requirement to the U.S. Department of Transportation, its follow-up will be in a very passive situation.¡±Zhang Zhirin said, the worst result, not only is that China¡¯s relevant departments also issued an equal ban on U.S. Airways, and similar policy of reciprocity, which has not been seen in the course of the U.S. and U.S. games in these years.

Information from the U.S. government regulations publicity 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 performing flights to and from the United States, and requires Chinese airlines to respond within two working days. The U.S. Department of Transportation also said that the final decision could take effect as early as November this year.

Reuters reports that the U.S. move is at a time of growing tension between the two countries due to a series of economic and trade issues, the ban could affect some U.S. flights with China Airlines, China East Airlines, China Southern Airlines and Xiamen Airlines.

Flight Steward DAST

According to data provided by flight controller DAST to the observer network, as of September 2025, the total number of flights between China and the United States was 826 flights, 21 routes, and 9 airlines operated (China Airways 6 and US Airways 3). of which, China Airways actually carried the number of flights accounted for 50.73%, US Airways actually carried the number of flights accounted for 49.27%.

Some analysts said that if the ban of the U.S. Department of Transportation is really implemented, Chinese airlines may consider flying around other routes, such as southern Siberia, Mongolia and other airspace, but this move will increase the flight time and fuel costs of Chinese airlines. Take the Beijing-new york route as an example. The flight may take two more hours to fly, adding hundreds of thousands of dollars to the fuel cost.

On October 10, Beijing time, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun pointed out in response to a question from Reuters that the United States imposed restrictions on the operations of China airlines, which was not conducive to personnel exchanges between the two countries. "We do suggest that the United States should reflect on the impact of its own policies on domestic companies, rather than unreasonably suppressing other countries and making global consumers pay the bill."

In addition, on the public comment page of the document published by the U.S. Department of Transportation, many comments from American netizens pointed out the main negative effects of the document, including: significantly extending flight time and reducing travel efficiency; Reduce travel choices, increase air ticket prices and reduce market competition; Adversely affecting the environment. They also urged the U.S. Department of Transportation to reconsider and withdraw or at least suspend the implementation document.

U.S. netizens argue that U.S. Airways, after being banned from using Russian airspace, did not compete through innovation or service improvement, but instead tried to ¡°limit the competitive environment by weakening the choice of passengers.¡±

Also, U.S. netizens pointed out that the U.S. Department of Transportation's documents are not concerned with the public interest, but are geopolitical.

Map of U.S. Department of Transportation.