An Air China plane takes off from Sydney Airport, as countries respond to the novel coronavirus variant Omicron amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Sydney, Australia, December 1, 2021 REUTERS/Loren Elliott

BEIJING/SYDNEY, Jan 20 (Reuters) – When Dwight Law’s father died in November, the Shanghai-based American expat returned to Kansas, leaving his wife and dog in China while he took care of matters linked to the death of his father.

Law, who runs an architecture and design firm, has lived in Shanghai for 20 years and expected to return last week.

But with dozens of flights between China and the United States suspended by Chinese authorities due to passengers testing positive for COVID-19 on arrival, finding a return flight even in February is proving nearly impossible and a challenge. threat to Law’s company.

“Now, with no scheduled flights, I’m currently locked out of China, away from my wife and family and can’t take care of my business,” Law said. “I have 50 employees in China. Without my presence, the business will suffer, as will every employee’s livelihood.”

Even before the latest flight cancellations, international capacity to and from China was operating at just 2% of pre-COVID levels as the country sticks to a strict zero-COVID policy of eliminating all cases while other parts of the world open up.

The zero-COVID mentality is expected to remain for most of 2022, Bank of America Securities analysts said in a note on Tuesday, bad news for the 845,000 foreign passport holders in China, a number already reduced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

In January, China’s aviation regulator alone canceled 143 round-trip flights as the highly transmissible variant of Omicron spreads across the world, according to a report by the Chinese aviation data provider’s flight master on Friday. last.

It was the highest in a month since it introduced a policy of suspending flights when positive cases were discovered in June 2020.

The flight suspensions, which also include some services to Europe and other parts of Asia, are one of the biggest challenges facing companies doing business in China, a spokesperson for China said. the European Chamber of Commerce in China.

“The recent cancellations send a clear message that China will not deviate from its current strategy,” the spokesperson said, referring to the zero-COVID policy.

China now requires passengers to have started costly COVID tests seven days before boarding in the departure city of their direct flight to China. This creates a headache for travelers like Law who aren’t based in US cities with direct flights.

Strict travel policies at transit hubs for US-Chinese travelers like Taiwan, Korea and Japan also exclude cheaper indirect flights.

A Google Flights search by Reuters shows that no flights from San Francisco to Shanghai are available for booking until the end of March at any price.

Jing Quan, minister at the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said Beijing was working closely with the US State Department to find a balance on the number of commercial flights to China. Charter flights for Olympic athletes were not affected, he said.

There was also less impact on freight. China Southern Airlines (600029.SS) plans to fly its cargo-only A380 superjumbos from Los Angeles to Guangzhou, while carrying passengers the other way, it told the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) .

Hainan Airlines (600221.SS) has received US approvals for cargo-only flights using passenger planes and China Eastern is seeking a similar nod, according to DOT filings.

While this is a comfort to exporters, it brings little comfort to stranded travelers like Law.

“COVID is not going away, I’m afraid. It’s here to stay,” he said. “What is China going to do, close its borders for the next five or 10 years while the world outside of China learns to manage, live and get herd immunity? It’s crazy.”

Reporting by Stella Qiu in Beijing and Jamie Freed in Sydney; additional reporting by Martin Pollard in Shanghai; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan

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