As the spread of Covid-19, or coronavirus, continues to put people off global travel, airlines have reacted swiftly. 

A drop in demand has led to a dramatic pruning of certain routes, such as the UK to northern Italy and Singapore, China and South Korea.

Here’s a list of airlines that have slashed flight itineraries.

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British Airways

Following the Foreign Office’s continued advice against all but essential travel to mainland China, BA has cancelled all flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai until 17 April 2020. It has also merged two daily services to and from Hong Kong until 31 March.

BA has also reduced flights to northern Italy. Customers booked to travel between London and northern Italian destinations including Milan (Linate and Malpensa), Turin, Bologna, Venice, Bergamo and Verona up to 15 March 2020 can rebook to a later travel date up to 3 April 2020.

The British flag carrier has also announced more than 400 additional flight cancellations between 16 and 28 March.

The vast majority – 342 – are short-haul flights to and from the airline’s main base at Heathrow. 

One daily round-trip from Heathrow to New York has been axed. BA is also cancelling 14 departures and arrivals serving destinations in Italy, France and Albania from Gatwick.

A total of 52 services connecting London City to Germany and Italy have been cancelled as well.

Shape Created with Sketch. Streets of Venice empty due to Coronavirus fears

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left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch.

British Airways will also cut flights to Seoul by 50 per cent, with services operating every other day rather than daily.

“Customers on cancelled services will be offered the option of a full refund, rebook to a later date or rebook on other carriers where possible,” said British Airways.

To increase bookings, BA is emulating the US airline JetBlue by offering fee-free changes. For new bookings made between Tuesday 3 March and Monday 16 March 2020, it will allow customers to change flights without the usual penalties.

However, passengers cannot ask for a refund or credit note if they decide not to travel. And if the new flight is more expensive, they will have to pay the difference.

Nor does the offer apply to British Airways passengers with existing reservations.

The airline’s chief commercial officer, Andrew Brem, said: “As some customers may choose to change or delay their travel plans at the moment, it’s important we offer them greater flexibility.

“By waiving our change fee our customers can have the added confidence to book a trip with British Airways that suits them.”

Ryanair

Europe’s biggest budget airline has reduced capacity by up to 25 per cent for the period from Tuesday 17 March to Wednesday 8 April.

Cancellations will mainly affect Italy.

The airline said: “Over the past week, Ryanair has seen a significant drop in bookings over that late March/early April period, in response to the Covid-19 virus.

“There has also been a significant step up in passenger no-shows on flights, particularly from and within Italy.”

The airline group’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “While we are heavily booked over the next two weeks, there has been a notable drop in forward bookings towards the end of March, into early April. It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

“This is a time for calm. All affected customers will be advised of any schedule changes at least 14 days in advance.”

Ryanair said it will continue to monitor bookings carefully, and will continue to “flex its schedules” in response to the developing situation.

EasyJet

EasyJet has cancelled flights after seeing a “softening of demand”, with fewer people flying in and out of northern Italy.

The budget airline also added that it had seen slower demand for travel across Europe generally, and would continue to monitor the outbreak.

A selection of flights, mainly to and from Italy, will therefore be grounded from 13 until 31 March.

An easyJet spokesperson said: “We can confirm that we have taken the decision to cancel a number of flights mainly to and from Italy following a slowing in demand as a result of concerns over Covid-19. 

“The cancellations are for some flights between 13 March and 31 March 2020, most of which have multiple daily frequencies. Customers are being contacted and moved onto flights operating on the same day or alternatively have been offered a full refund. Standard terms and conditions apply on all flights which are unaffected as they will be operating as normal.”

Wizz Air

Wizz Air has cancelled flights on specific routes to Northern Italy between 11 March and 2 April 2020. During this period around 60 per cent of total Italian capacity has been cut. 

The airline has said affected passengers will be “accommodated on an alternative route at the earliest possible date, but at least 14 days prior to the original date of the flight” – customers can opt for the rebooking, a full refund or a 120 per cent refund of the original fare in airline credit.

Wizz Air has also reduced its London Luton-Tel Aviv route from six to five weekly flights from 15 March to 2 April.

The airline said it could cut flight capacity by as much as 10 per cent in the first quarter if coronavirus continues to impact on demand.

Norwegian 

Norwegian has experienced reduced demand on some routes, particularly on future bookings. The airline has decided to cancel 22 long-haul flights between Europe and the US from 28 March to 5 May.

Norwegian also has a limited number of flights to Northern Italy and other regions heavily affected by the virus. The carrier said it has already reduced its capacity by up to 15 per cent in 2020. 

The following routes are affected: Rome-Los Angeles; Rome-Boston; Rome-New York; and London-New York (three daily departures are reduced to two on selected dates).

Affected customers will be contacted by Norwegian and offered a new itinerary.

Norwegian is “monitoring the developments closely and is continuously evaluating additional changes to its schedule.”

Lufthansa Group

Flights to mainland China are suspended until 24 April; flights to Tehran in Iran remain suspended until 30 April; and frequencies to Italy, Seoul and Hong Kong have been reduced across the network, according to the Lufthansa Group, which includes Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines. 

Lufthansa Group has also now cancelled all flights to Israel due to new entry regulations. All flights to Tel Aviv and Eilat will be cancelled from Sunday 8 March for the next three weeks, until 28 March.

The extended refusal of entry by the Israeli authorities, which applies from 6 March to travellers from Germany, Switzerland and Austria among others, will lead to a considerable drop in demand for flights to Israel.

For operational reasons, some flights to Tel Aviv scheduled to depart this Friday and Saturday have already been cancelled as flight crews are also affected by these new restrictions. Lufthansa Group airlines traditionally offer a total of 10 daily flights to Tel Aviv; in addition Lufthansa has one scheduled weekly service to Eilat.

The Lufthansa Group has said it will reduce capacity by up to 25 per cent, cancelling 7,100 European flights in March. The route cancellations and frequency adjustments correspond to a calculated capacity of 150 aircraft, of which 125 are short- and medium-haul and are 25 long haul. 

Lufthansa will reduce frequencies on various routes to Italy this month. This includes Milan, Venice, Rome, Turin, Verona, Bologna, Ancona and Pisa. In addition, frequencies on domestic routes from Frankfurt to Berlin, Munich, Hamburg and Paderborn and from Munich to Berlin, Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Bremen and Hanover will be reduced.

SWISS is predicted to reduce flight frequencies to and from Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice until the end of April. 

Austrian Airlines is reducing its flight schedule to Italy in March and April by 40 per cent. This includes a cut in capacity on routes from Vienna to Milan, Venice, Bologna, Florence, Rome and Naples.

Eurowings is reducing its flights to and from Venice, Bologna and Milan until 8 March. 

For its Italian route network, Brussels Airlines has decided to reduce flights to Rome, Milan, Venice and Bologna by 30 per cent until 14 March.

Virgin Atlantic

Virgin Atlantic has suspended Heathrow-Shanghai operations until 19 April. It has also confirmed it has reduced its Heathrow-Hong Kong route in March.

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A spokesperson said: “The health and safety of our customers and staff remains our absolute priority. We continue to monitor the Coronavirus situation very carefully, including the latest guidance from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), which on 4 February issued guidance to UK citizens to leave China if they are able to do so. Given this FCO advice, the increasing entry restrictions on recent visitors to mainland China, and our rigorous focus on health and safety, Virgin Atlantic has suspended Heathrow-Shanghai operations until 19 April 2020.

“Subsequently, we have made the decision to reduce our services to Hong Kong and will be offering an amended schedule between Heathrow and Hong Kong in March.”

For those who want flexibility, from 4 March until the end of March, passengers who book with the airline will be able to change their plans until the end of September 2020 – though they may still need to pay the difference in fare.

Singapore Airlines

The Singaporean flag carrier has cancelled a large number of flights across its network up until the end of May. This includes services on its London Heathrow-Singapore route on 17 March, and throughout May. See the full list of cancellations here.

KLM

KLM has suspended all flights to the Chinese cities of Chengdu, Hangzhou and Xiamen until 3 May.

The Dutch carrier has also cut flights to Hong Kong by 50 per cent, offering a service every other day rather than its usual daily service, up until 3 May.

The airline is offering passengers the chance to rebook or get a refund if they have a flight to, from or via China (including Hong Kong and Taipei) on or before 31 May.

Cathay Pacific

Hong Kong’s national carrier currently has 120 planes sitting on the tarmac – about half of its fleet. More than 75 per cent of its weekly flights have been slashed in March, according to a study by the South China Morning Post.

Cathay has also said 75 per cent of staff (around 25,000 employees) have been asked to take unpaid leave.

The airline has suspended all flights to and from South Korea until 28 March, and cancelled flights between Hong Kong and Milan and Rome.

Aeroflot

Aeroflot is temporarily suspending flights to Hong Kong. Flights to Hong Kong will operate until 7 March and from Hong Kong until 8 March. 

Passengers who booked tickets on or before 5 March 2020 to travel on flights SU212/213 between 8 and 31 March 2020 can change their departure dates or obtain a refund for tickets at sales offices where they were purchased. Tickets purchased online can be returned at any of the airline’s sales offices or via the contact centre.

Changes and refunds will not incur additional fees.

Passengers with tickets for Aeroflot flights scheduled from 8 March onwards may contact Aeroflot’s special hotline with any questions on 007 495 7847242, as well as Aeroflot’s call centre (global free-call numbers available here) and the airline’s sales offices for refunds and rebookings.

United Airlines

United Airlines said that it will reduce the number of international flights in April by 20 per cent and US and Canada flights by 10 per cent. It will also suspend hiring until at least 30 June and there will be a pay freeze. A leaked memo sent to staff also suggests employees will be offered unpaid leave.

The carrier has suspended all flights from the US to Beijing, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Shanghai until 30 April. Some services to Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Singapore and Seoul have also been suspended.

American Airlines

Due to the reduction in demand, American Airlines has suspended operations to and from Seoul, South Korea and Dallas-Fort Worth until 25 April. 

All operations to and from Milan, Italy, and New York (JFK) and Miami have also been suspended.

Flights between LAX and mainland China and Hong Kong are suspended up to and including 24 April; and flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Hong Kong are suspended up to and including 23 April.

Delta Air Lines

Delta has reduced flights to China, South Korea and northern Italy among other destinations. The airline said it is also suspending summer flights between Seattle and Osaka, Japan, and reducing the number of weekly flights to Tokyo and Nagoya from several cities including Atlanta and Portland, Oregon, until 30 April.

However, its daily services to Tokyo from Detroit, Los Angeles, Honolulu and Seattle remain unaffected.

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