Un avion american aflat în zbor spre China a fost întors din drum din cauza noilor restricții anti-COVID-19

Delta Air Lines, a US airline, decided last week to call back to Seattle a plane on the flight to Shanghai because of the new sanitary restrictions required at the airport, attracting criticism from Chinese authorities, AFP reports, quoted by Agerpres.

Several passengers were seen returning to the United States with outdated COVID-19 tests and expired visas, prompting the Chinese consulate in San Francisco to file an official complaint with delta, according to Chinese media.

“In order to comply with the cleaning requirements at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (PVG) that were issued by the Chinese government on December 21, flight 287 from Seattle to Shanghai returned to (Seattle) while on its way to (Shanghai),” a spokesperson for Delta Air Lines told AFP.

“The new cleaning procedures require a considerably extended period of time and are not operationally viable for Delta,” delta air lines spokesperson added, without further specifying the procedures in question.

In recent days, thousands of flights have been cancelled by airlines around the world, with many pilots and crews sick or quarantined due to the highly contagious Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Many authorities have also tightened restrictions, with Chinese authorities particularly vigilant in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, which begin in less than 40 days.

PHOTO: EPA