My understanding is that this an international issue. It's something that made sense before the pandemic, since there is almost certainly competition for landin

My understanding is that this an international issue. It's something that made sense before the pandemic, since there is almost certainly competition for landing slots, but those slots should have been frozen when international flights so obviously dropped off in 2020. The FAA did drop the rule in the US, at least temporarily. Consider, though, that many of these flights are only empty of passengers. A great deal of air freight has always flown on passenger aircraft, much more than on dedicated air cargo flights, and planes without passengers are often flying with full cargo holds.