Report: Delta Blames Pandemic Cleaning Rules in China for Reversal of Flight in Mid-Air

Delta Air Lines said Monday updated pandemic cleaning rules inside a Shanghai airport were to blame for the reversal of a flight outbound from Seattle in midair, the Associated Press (AP) reported.

The decision gave rise to a protest from the Chinese Consulate located in San Francisco, the outlet said.

A statement noted the mandates at Shanghai Pudong International Airport “require significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable for Delta.”

It remained unclear what the requirements were and what exactly caused the change, however, the news came as China hardened its strict coronavirus travel restrictions amid a growing outbreak in Xi’an and before the Winter Olympics in Beijing.

The AP report continued:

Xi’an, which is about 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) southwest of Beijing, reported more than 300 new cases over the weekend, a sharp rise from previous days. The city of 13 million people has been locked down, with only one person per household allowed out every two days to shop for necessities. The Delta flight that turned back to Seattle last week left passengers with expired COVID-19 test results and U.S. visas, according to Chinese media reports.

Two Taiwan-based airlines, China Airlines and EVA Air, have both cut down on the number of flights heading to Shanghai Pudong International Airport in recent days, citing new disinfection procedures that will take longer to complete, according to Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency.

In addition, the Chinese government on Sunday ordered rural migrant workers in the Shaanxi province not to make their annual visits to relatives during the Lunar New Year and Spring Festival holidays, Breitbart News reported Monday.

“The restrictions were part of a growing atmosphere of panic around the coronavirus outbreak in Shaanxi’s capital of Xi’an, even as the Chinese Communist regime insists a mere handful of cases have been detected,” the outlet said.

Meanwhile, airlines including Delta and other U.S. carriers have canceled thousands of flights recently as the omicron variant affected airline employees and impacted travel plans for consumers, AFP reported Monday.