Air China planes are seen parked on the tarmac at Beijing Capital Airport in March 2020. Photo: AFP

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Air China planes are seen parked on the tarmac at Beijing Capital Airport in March 2020. Photo: AFP

The US Transportation Department on Wednesday said it will limit some flights from Chinese carriers to 40 per cent passenger capacity for four weeks after the Chinese government imposed similar limits on four United Airlines flights.

China told United on August 6 it was imposing sanctions after it alleged five passengers who travelled from San Francisco to Shanghai tested positive for Covid-19 on July 21.

The US order said the department will limit over a four-week period each of four Chinese carriers to 40 per cent capacity on a single China-US flight.

United Airlines and the Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately comment.

The US government says China’s “circuit breaker” policy violates the nations’ air services agreement and “places undue culpability on carriers with respect to travellers that test positive for Covid-19 after their arrival in China”.

The department added carriers “have no means to independently verify positive test results alleged by Chinese authorities. Furthermore, there is no way to establish where or when a traveller may have contracted.”

Chinese authorities gave United three options: cancel two San Francisco to Shanghai flights; operate two without passengers; or operate four flights with up to 40 per cent of passenger capacity.

The limits were imposed on four Wednesday United San Francisco-Shanghai flights, beginning with an August 11 flight.

The Biden administration said it will impose identical limits on four total flights over four weeks – one each from Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines Co and Xiamen Airlines.

The limits come as many Chinese students are headed to the United States for the start of fall classes.

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, China and the United States have sparred over air services.

In June 2020, the United States threatened to bar Chinese passenger flights after Beijing did not immediately agree to restore flights by US airlines.

US carriers voluntary halted flights to China after the coronavirus outbreak. Then President Donald Trump on January 31, 2020 barred nearly all non-US citizens from travelling to the United States who had been in China within the last 14 days.

Those restrictions on Chinese travellers remain in place. The Biden administration in April eased restrictions on Chinese students travelling to US schools effective August 1.

A long-standing air agreement between China and the United States allows both countries to operate more than 100 weekly flights between the two nations but only a fraction of those are currently operating.