News / Foreign Policy / Economy / China

Beijing blasts US for threatening Chinese airlines flying over Russia

Friday, 10 October 2025 5:02 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 10 October 2025 5:02 PM ]

An Air China flight headed to San Francisco, USA takes off from an international airport in the Chinese capital city Beijing on November 11, 2023. (Photo by VCG)

Beijing has censured the Trump administration for threatening to ban Chinese airlines for flying over Russia.

Chinese carriers use Russian airspace on US routes because it gives them the advantage of decreased flying time and burns less fuel, lowering their costs.

Air travel experts say Chinese airlines are better than American ones for traveling between the two countries because Russian airspace is open to Chinese companies but closed to them, making the flight time and ticket price shorter.

US airlines are barred by Russia from flying over its airspace in retaliation for Washington banning Russian flights from flying over US airspace in March 2022, after the country launched its special military operation in Donbas, eastern Ukraine.

'Unfair' advantage

The Americans say the use of Russian airspace by Chinese carriers has given them an "unfair" advantage over US airlines.

On Thursday, the US Transportation Department said in its proposal to ban Chinese airlines that "this imbalance has become a significant competitive factor" and threatened it would give Chinese carriers two days to respond, and a final order could be in effect as soon as November.

The US Transportation Department claimed the objective of its ban is to "level this competitive disparity amongst US and Chinese air carriers," and that the current situation was "unfair and has resulted in substantial adverse competitive effects on US air carriers."

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson responded on Friday that the proposed ban on Chinese airlines by the Trump administration for flying over Russia on US routes would be detrimental to personnel exchanges between the two countries.

Guo Jiakun said in a routine press conference that the US should reflect on the impact of its own policies on US companies, rather than unreasonably suppressing other countries and leaving global consumers to foot the bill.

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He added that for specifics on the repercussions of the ban, he would refer to relevant authorities.

Meantime, experts say the Trump administration's proposed ban of Chinese airlines is groundless and unjustified, and could seriously impact bilateral civil aviation cooperation and people-to-people exchanges if implemented.

Analysts see the Trump administration's proposal to ban Chinese carriers as another escalation of the ongoing trade war between the world's two largest economies, and it was announced after Beijing on Thursday tightened controls for rare earths exports crucial for some US industries.

They say the economic policies of US President Donald Trump are bleeding the US economy, impacting the average US consumer, as well as adversely affecting global economic stability.

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