China Eastern Airlines Wants To Shift New York-Shanghai Services

China Eastern Airlines Corp. requested authority from the United States Transportation Department on Wednesday to temporarily move flights from New York to Shanghai due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Chinese aviation officials have instructed China Eastern Airlines to divert Shanghai-bound passenger flights arriving from the United States to certain alternate airports in China, the carrier said. The carrier said the decision was made because of “evolving coronavirus pandemic control measures in the Shanghai region.”

China Eastern has requested authority to begin moving its current twice-weekly Shanghai westbound passenger flights from New York to China’s Fuzhou Changle International Airport on March 31 and continue doing so through the end of April.

As a result of COVID-19, the Chinese aviation authority said on Tuesday that 106 foreign planes planned to arrive in Shanghai would be diverted to other domestic locations between March 21 and May 1.

According to the Civil Aviation Administration of China, flights operated by Air China, China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Juneyao Air, and Spring Airlines are among those that have been disrupted by the grounding.

According to the city of Shanghai, which on Tuesday reported five new local symptomatic transmissions and nearly 200 domestically transmitted asymptomatic carriers, it has identified some key areas and will complete testing of all people living there twice over the course of the next two days, which will take place on Wednesday and Thursday.

Tesla Inc. is pausing production at its Shanghai facility on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a notification emailed internally and to suppliers. The message did not specify why the manufacturing was being halted, and it did not provide an explanation. Volkswagen Group China said on Wednesday that it will restart manufacturing in Shanghai on Thursday after a 48-hour stoppage of operations.