When Dwight Law's father died in November, the Shanghai-based U.S. expat flew back to Kansas, leaving his wife and dog behind in China while he attended to matters relating to his father's death.

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



"Now with no flights scheduled, I am currently locked out of China, away from my wife and family and not able to attend to business," Law said. "I have 50 employees in China. Without my presence, the business will suffer and so will the livelihoods of each employee."
The zero-COVID mentality is likely to stay for most of 2022, Bank of America Securities analysts said in a note on Tuesday (Jan 18), in bad news for the 845,000 foreign passport holders in China, a number already reduced since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

China's aviation regulator in January alone cancelled 143 return flights as the highly transmissible Omicron variant spreads across the globe, according to a report from Chinese aviation data provider flight master last Friday.

<>China's international flight suspensions leave travellers stranded, hurt busines

 

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