By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -China Eastern Airlines Corp on Wednesday asked the U.S. Transportation Department for approval to temporarily shift New York to Shanghai flights over COVID-19 measures.
The carrier said because of "evolving coronavirus pandemic control measures in the Shanghai region, China Eastern has been instructed" by Chinese aviation officials "to divert Shanghai-bound passenger flights arriving from the U.S. to certain alternate airports in China."
China Eastern asked approval starting March 31 to move existing twice-weekly Shanghai westbound passenger flights from New York to China's Fuzhou Changle International Airport through the end of April.
China's aviation regulator said on Tuesday it will divert 106 international flights scheduled to arrive in Shanghai to other domestic cities from March 21 to May 1 due to COVID-19.
The impacted flights include those operated by Air China (OTC:AIRYY), China Eastern, Shanghai Airlines, Juneyao Air and Spring Airlines, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said.
Shanghai, which reported five new local symptomatic transmissions and nearly 200 domestically transmitted asymptomatic carriers on Tuesday, said on Wednesday it has identified some key areas and would finish testing all people in those areas twice between Wednesday and Thursday.
Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) Inc is suspending production at its Shanghai factory on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a notice sent internally and to suppliers, while the notice did not give a reason for the stoppage. Volkswagen (DE:VOWG_p) Group China said it would resume production in Shanghai on Thursday after a 48-hour suspension.