U.S., China Holding Talks on Plane Cleaning After Flight Aborted
- Discussions on issue confirmed by State Department official
- U.S. airline industry says rules replicate existing cleaning
The international departure hall at the Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China.
Photographer: Qilai Shen/BloombergTalks are underway between the U.S. and China on possible changes to apparent new aircraft-cleaning requirements that prompted a Delta Air Lines Inc. flight to turn back to Seattle and that could upend air travel into the Asian nation.
The discussions were confirmed Tuesday by a State Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity. China’s new sanitation mandates -- spurred by the spread of Covid-19 -- significantly extend the time planes are on the ground and largely copy steps that U.S. airlines already take to clean between flights, representatives for the industry said. There also is a shortage of available workers to carry out the added steps, they said.