An American airline pilots union on Thursday lodged a complaint against American Airlines in order to compel it to suspend all of its flights between the United States and China because of risks associated with the new coronavirus.
Citing "the serious risks to health, in many ways as yet unknown, posed by the coronavirus", the Allied Pilots Association (APA) has filed a complaint in Dallas (Texas) demanding American Airlines suspend its flights between China and the United States immediately.
The airline planned to interrupt its flights connecting Los Angeles to Peking and Shanghai from February 9 to March 27, but maintain those between both Chinese cities and the American airport of Fort Worth in Dallas, which according to the APA makes about 56 flights a month.
"Every American Airlines crew member on-board a flight to China must spend about 32 hours on the ground to meet federal regulations concerning rest time," the APA specifies in a press release, also noting the warning messages sent by the American health authorities advising the avoidance of "non-essential travel" to the United States.
"The health and safety of our crews and passengers must always be our priority," the association's president captain Eric Ferguson declared in the press release.
Several airlines from various countries have taken the decision to suspend or cut back on their flights to the Chinese mainland in the face of the spread of the new coronavirus, which has already claimed 170 lives.
The Brussels Times
