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Business News of Friday, 6 March 2020

Source: reuters.com

Airlines suspend flights due to coronavirus outbreak

Airlines have been suspending flights or modifying services in response to the coronavirus outbreak Airlines have been suspending flights or modifying services in response to the coronavirus outbreak

Airlines have been suspending flights or modifying services in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

Below are details (in alphabetical order):

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELLED ALL FLIGHTS TO MAINLAND CHINA

**American Airlines (AAL.O) has extended the suspension of China and Hong Kong flights through April 24

**Air France (AIRF.PA) said on Feb. 6 it would suspend flights to and from mainland China for much of March

**Air India has suspended flights to Shanghai, Hong Kong until June 30

**Air Seoul has suspended China flights from Jan. 28 until further notice.

**Air Tanzania, which had planned to begin a charter service to China in February, postponed its maiden flights.

**Air Mauritius has suspended all flights to China and Hong Kong

**Austrian Airlines has suspended its service until end-February.

**British Airways (ICAG.L) has suspended extended its flight suspension until April 17.

**Delta Airlines (DAL.N) flights have been suspended from Feb. 2-April 30

**Egyptair suspended flights on Feb. 1, but on Feb. 20 said it would resume some flights to and from China starting next week.

**El Al Israel Airlines (ELAL.TA) has extended its suspension of flights to Hong Kong and Beijing until May 2.

**Iberia Airlines (ICAG.L) has extended its suspension of flights from Madrid to Shanghai, its only route, from Feb. 29 until the end of April.

**JejuAir Co Ltd (089590.KS) is to suspend all China routes starting March 1.

**Kenya Airways (KQNA.NR) has suspended flights from Jan. 31 until further notice.

**KLM said on March. 2 it would extend its ban on flights to Chengdu, Hangzhou and Xiamen in China to at least May 3 because of the coronavirus outbreak. It expects to resume flights to Beijing and Shanghai on March 29.

**Lion Air has suspended flights for all of February.

**LOT has extended flight suspensions until March 28.

**Lufthansa has extended China flight cancellations until April 24.

**Oman Air suspended flights on Feb. 2 until further notice.

**Qatar Airways has suspended services from Feb. 1 until further notice.

**Rwandair has suspended flights from Jan. 31 until further notice.

**Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s state airline, suspended flights on Feb. 2.

**Scoot, Singapore Airlines’ (SIAL.SI) low-cost carrier, suspended services from Feb. 8 until further notice.

**United Airlines (UAL.O) suspended its service to Hong Kong from Feb. 8-April 23.

**Vietjet VJC.HM and Vietnam Airlines HVN.HM suspended flights to the mainland as well as Hong Kong and Macau Feb. 1-April 30, in line with its aviation authority’s directive.

AIRLINES THAT HAVE CANCELLED SOME CHINA FLIGHTS/ROUTES OR MODIFIED SERVICE

**Air Canada (AC.TO) has extended the suspension of its flights to Beijing and Shanghai until March 27. It also suspended its Toronto to Hong Kong flights from March 1 to March 27, but its Vancouver to Hong Kong route remains active. [bit.ly/39zgmI0]

**Air China (601111.SS) said it would cancel flights to Athens, Greece, from Feb. 17 to March 18 and “adjust” flights between China and the United States. On Feb. 28 it resumed flying to Frankfurt from Chengdu following a 21-day suspension, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

**Air New Zealand (AIR.NZ) has suspended its Auckland-Shanghai service Feb. 9-March 29. Reduced capacity on Shanghai route throughout April and Hong Kong route throughout April and May.

**ANA Holdings (9202.T) has suspended routes including Shanghai and Hong Kong from Feb. 10 until further notice.

**Brussels Airlines, a Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) subsidiary, said on Feb. 28 it would cut flights to northern Italy by 30% from March 2 to 14.

**Cathay Pacific Airways (0293.HK) plans to cut a third of its capacity over the next two months, including 90% of flights to mainland China. It has encouraged its 27,000 employees to take three weeks of unpaid leave in a bid to preserve cash.

**China Southern Airlines (600029.SS) recommenced flights on Feb. 25 to Nairobi from Guangzhou.

**Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has suspended flights to Hong Kong until March 28, the airline said on Feb. 26, citing a drop in demand.

**The UAE suspended all flights to mainland China, except Beijing, on Feb. 5.

**Finnair (FIA1S.HE) is cancelling flights to mainland China, South Korea and Milan because of the coronavirus outbreak

**Hainan Airlines suspended flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing Feb. 7-March 27.

**Kenya’s High Court ordered flights from China to be temporarily suspended following a petition.

**Korean Air Lines Co (003490.KS), the national flag carrier, suspended eight routes to China and reduced services on nine Chinese routes between Feb. 7 and Feb. 22.

**Philippine Airlines [PHL.UL] cut the number of flights between Manila and China by over half.

**Qantas Airways (QAN.AX) suspended direct flights to China from Feb. 1. The Australian national carrier halted flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai between Feb. 9-March 29.

**Royal Air Maroc suspended direct flights to China Jan. 31-Feb. 29. On Jan. 16 it had launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing.

**All Russian airlines, except national airline Aeroflot, stopped flying to China from Jan. 31. Small airline Ikar will also continue flights between Moscow and China.

**Russia’s Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) said it would suspend its flights to Hong Kong from March 7 and from Hong Kong the following day.

**All planes arriving from China will be sent to a separate terminal in the Moscow Sheremetyevo airport. Aeroflot reduced the frequency of flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou until Feb. 29.

**Nordic airline SAS (SAS.ST) has extended its suspension of flights to Shanghai and Beijing until March 29, added on March 3 it would cut flights to Hong Kong from March 5

**Singapore Airlines (SIAL.SI) has suspended or cut capacity on flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir.

**Taiwan in February suspended flights to most cities in mainland China, though those to the capital Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu have continued.

**UPS (UPS.N) has cancelled 22 flights to China because of the virus and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday.

**Virgin Atlantic has extended its suspension of daily operations to Shanghai until March 28.

**Virgin Australia (VAH.AX) said it will withdraw from the Sydney-Hong Kong route from March 2 because it was “no longer a viable commercial route” due to growing concerns over the virus and civil unrest in Hong Kong.

**Vistara Airlines temporarily reduced flights to and from Bangkok and Singapore.

AIRLINES THAT HAVE MODIFIED SERVICE ON OTHER ROUTES

**Asiana Airlines (020560.KS) has decided to halt all flights to Daegu until March 9, while Korean Air Lines (003490.KS) will also suspend flights until March 28.

**American Airlines Group Inc (AAL.O) said Tuesday it will temporarily suspend all remaining flights to South Korea through April 24 in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

**Air Canada (AC.TO) will allow travellers to rebook flights to parts of Italy at no charge.

**United Airlines (UAL.O) said it would reduce U.S. and Canadian flights by 10% and international flights by 20% in April, with similar cuts planned in May. It added South Korea to its travel waiver list but is not cancelling flights.

**Bahrain’s civil aviation authority suspends all its flights from Dubai and Sharjah airports for 48 hours.

**British Airways on Monday said it was cancelling some flights from London to the United States to match reduced demand for flying.

**British Airways also said it would cancel some flights to and from Italy, Singapore and South Korea.

**Czech Republic said on March 2 it would stop flights to South Korea and cities in northern Italy for at least two weeks

**easyJet (EZJ.L) said on Feb. 28 it would cancel flights, particularly in and out of Italy, and cut costs across its business.

**El Al Israel Airlines (ELAL.TA) said it would suspend flights to Italy, including Milan and Rome from Feb. 28 to March 14, and to Bangkok from March 2-27. It will also delay launching a new route to Tokyo from March until April 4.

**Finnair (FIA1S.HE) is cancelling all flights to mainland China until April 30 and to Milan between March 9 and April 7, and is reducing the frequency of its flights to several destinations in Asia and Europe, it said on March.4

**Japan Airlines, ANA Holdings to cancel some Japan domestic flights between March 6 and 12.

**JetBlue (JBLU.O) said on March 4 it would cut capacity by approximately 5% in the near term.

**Kazakhstan plans to suspend flights to Iran from March 1 and reduce the number of South Korea flights.

**The Kenyan government suspended direct flights from northern Italy on March 3, specifically Verona and Milan, which usually have direct flights to the Kenyan coast.

**Kuwait’s civil aviation authority halts all its flights to and from South Korea, Thailand, and Italy. Kuwait had earlier suspended all its flights to and from Iraq.

**Latam Airlines Group SA (LTM.SN) is cancelling its direct flight between Sao Paulo and Milan from March 2 until April 16.

**Lauda, an Austrian unit of Ryanair, said it will cut flights from March 18 until April 8 due to lower demand. The company said to expect further disruptions to flights in the coming weeks.

**Lebanon halted flights for non-residents from countries including China, Iran, Italy and South Korea, the transport ministry said on Feb. 28. The ban excludes Lebanese citizens and foreign residents of the country.

**Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) said on March 5 it would cancel about 7,100 flights up to the end of March and reduce capacity by about 25%. It had previously said it would ground 150 aircraft and suspend flights to Tehran until April 30.

**Mongolia’s National Emergency Commission said on Feb. 24 it had halted all flights from South Korea and would block entry through its borders until March 2. Mongolia had previously suspended all entries from China.

**Norwegian Air Shuttle (NWC.OL) said on March.5 it had decided to cancel 22 long-haul flights between Europe and the United States from March 28 to May 5, with routes from Rome to Los Angeles, Boston and New York seeing a reduced number of departures.

**Oman’s civil aviation authority has halted all flights between the sultanate and Iran, it said on Feb. 24.

**Portugal’s flag carrier TAP cancelled 1,000 flights in March-April, mainly affecting destinations in Italy, France and Spain and some intercontinental flights.

**Royal Jordanian Airlines has suspended flights between Amman and Rome until further notice starting from Feb. 26.

**Russian low-cost carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of the country’s largest airline Aeroflot (AFLT.MM), said on Tuesday it will reduce the frequency of its flights to Italy until May due to falling demand.

**Russia’s Ministry of Transport said on Feb. 27 it would suspend some flights to and from Iran, except those operated by its national carrier Aeroflot (AFLT.MM) and Iranian airline Mahan Air.

**Ryanair (RYA.I) will cut capacity in and out of Italy, its largest market, by 25% for three weeks due to a significant drop off in bookings since a coronavirus outbreak, Europe’s biggest low-cost airline said on Monday.

**Swedish-Danish airline SAS (SAS.ST) on Tuesday cancelled its flights to northern Italy and withdrew financial guidance for its current financial year after the spread of the coronavirus hit demand.

**SAS (SAS.ST) said it would cut its short-haul capacity over March and April.

**Sweden suspended IranAir from flying to and from Sweden on March 2.

**Taiwan’s largest carrier China Airlines (2610.TW) has been banned from flying to Italy after the Italian government included Taiwan as part of China’s virus area.

**Tajikistan has suspended all flights to and from Iran until the virus situation there stabilises, the Civil Aviation Agency said on Feb. 24.

**Tunisia may suspend some flights to Italy.

**Turkish Airlines (THYAO.IS) extended a cancellation of flights to Iranian cities, with the exception of flights to Tehran, until March 10.

**Turkish commercial flights between Turkey and Iran are suspended until further notice. “The Iranian carriers will fly empty to Turkey and be permitted to carry passengers destined for Iran. Turkish passengers will not be transported on these flights,” Turkey’s Civil Aviation Authority announced on its Twitter account.

**United Airlines sharply cut flights to Japan and South Korea as travellers have slashed ticket purchases for those destinations.

**United Airlines announced on Wednesday it is cutting domestic, Canadian and international flying and implementing a series of cost-cutting measures.

**Vietjet Air VJC.HM will suspend flights to destinations in South Korea from Saturday, March 7.

**Vietnam Airlines HVN.HM suspended flights to South Korea from March 5.

**Vietnam’s Bamboo Airways suspends flights between Da Nang and Nha Trang to Seoul’s Incheon International Airport, starting Feb. 26

**Wizz Air (WIZZ.L) said it would decrease the frequency of its Romania, Poland, Italy and Israel routes, cutting two-thirds of all flights on affected routes over three weeks between March 11 and April 2, and added it could further reduce capacity by around 10% in its next quarter.