Delta Flight to Shanghai Turns Around Midflight Due to New Covid Sanitation Rules at Some Chinese Airports

By Kurt Stolz on 28 December 2021
  • Share

A panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

A Delta Air Lines flight en route from Seattle to Shanghai last week turned around midflight after the imposition of new sanitation rules in force at Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Delta said Monday.

In an e-mailed statement, Delta said that the new rules would “require significantly extended ground time and are not operationally viable for Delta.”

The cancelled flight left the plane’s passengers with out-of-date Covid test results and many with expired U.S. visas, according to news reports coming out of China.

Delta apologized to its passengers “for any inconvenience” and was working to rebook them on alternate flights.

The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. said in a statement that it was “communicating with relevant airlines to actively understand the specific technical issues and discuss solutions to avoid similar incidents from happening again.”

Meanwhile, the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco, said that it had  “made a stern representation to the airline,” without specifying the carrier’s name.

Non-U.S. carriers China Airlines and Eva Air, both based in Taiwan, have reduced flights to Shanghai, according to their published schedules, apparently as a result of the new cleaning rules.

(Photo: Accura Media Group)

Accura News