U.S. OKs China Eastern rerouting of New York-Shanghai flights – Reuters.com

A China Eastern Airlines aircraft and a Shanghai Airlines aircraft are seen in Hongqiao International Airport in Shanghai, following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, China June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo

WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) – The U.S. Transportation Department on Friday approved China Eastern Airlines Corp’s (600115.SS) request to let it extend the rerouting of New York-to-Shanghai flights, over COVID-19 measures, to a different Chinese airport through May 31.

The department previously granted China Eastern’s request to move existing twice-weekly Shanghai westbound passenger flights from New York to China’s Fuzhou Changle International Airport in Fujian province through the end of April.

China Eastern said in a filing with the U.S. government that, “due to evolving coronavirus pandemic control measures in the Shanghai region,” Chinese aviation regulators had instructed it “to divert Shanghai-bound passenger flights arriving from the U.S. to certain alternate airports in China.”

Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by William Mallard

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