US-China Talks Underway After Delta Flight Returned to Seattle Over New Sanitation Mandate

US-China talks are underway after a new sanitation mandate made a Delta Air Lines flight return to Seattle. As reported by Bloomberg, a State Department official who remains anonymous confirmed the discussions.

The new sanitation mandate by China is problematic for airlines. It will extend the time planes stay grounded. Also, these are largely similar to the sanitary protocols done by US airlines between flights. Aside from that, airlines are also dealing with a shortage of workers who will carry out the new sanitation mandate.

New Sanitation Mandate to Slow the Spread of COVID

The new requirement is part of China’s effort to control the spread of the omicron variant. China has a strict policy towards COVID especially with the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled in February. Hong Kong is also following a similar “COVID Zero” strategy. For instance, Hong Kong requires the air-cargo crew to quarantine in a hotel for three days.

According to the State Department, the US wants China to change its cleaning mandates since carriers worldwide are already doing the same disinfection procedures.

According to a Delta spokesperson, their service to China “remains very fluid”. The carrier is also assessing its flights to China. Delta currently offers twice-weekly flights from Detroit and Seattle to Shanghai.

Unfortunately, the sanitation procedures remain unclear. Shanghai’s airport spokesperson declined to comment while a spokesperson for the Civil Administration of China (CAAC) said that the COVID control protocols were in place since September.

CAAC official Han Guangzu said to reporters that preventive disinfection is carried out at least once a month. Also, planes that go to high-risk cities are disinfected daily. Cargo planes, on the other hand, will need disinfection if it contains goods that could potentially spread diseases. And also, a “thorough disinfection” is a must for planes that land with a COVID positive passenger on board.

Other US airlines responded to the new sanitation mandate. United Airlines said that it is going to comply with the mandate. Also, it hasn’t canceled any of its four weekly flights to Shanghai from San Francisco. American Airlines, on the other hand, said that it affected its twice-a-week flights to Shanghai from Dallas-Fort Worth. However, American Airlines did not provide any additional details.