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Coronavirus: Global Airlines Suspend Flights to China

Airlines are suspending flights to China in the wake of the new coronavirus outbreak, which has killed more than 212 people and infected nearly 10,000 people.

Here is the latest on their plans (in alphabetical order):

Air Canada said on January 28 that it has cancelled selected flights to China.

Air France has suspended all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until February 9.

 Air India will be cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flights from January 31 to February 14.

Air New Zealand said on January 31 that it was temporarily reducing flights between Auckland and Shanghai to four return services a week from February 18 to March 31 rather than the usual daily flights.

Air Seoul said on January 28 that it had suspended all flights to China.

 Air Tanzania said it would postpone its maiden flights to China. It had planned to begin charter flights to China in February.

American Airlines, the largest US carrier said it would suspend flights from Los Angeles to Beijing and Shanghai from Feb 9 to March 27.

 British Airways, said on January 30 that it had cancelled all flights to mainland China for a month.

Cathay Pacific Airways said it would progressively reduce capacity to and from mainland China by 50 percent or more from January 30 to the end of March.

 Delta Airlines, the US airline said on January 29 that it was reducing flights to China to 21 per week from 42, starting February 6 through April 30.

 Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said on Friday that passenger flights between Beijing and Nagoya, in Japan, have been temporarily suspended due to low travel demand after the coronavirus outbreak in China.

Egypt Air said on January 30 it will suspend all flights to and from China starting February 1.

El Al Israel Airlines said on January 30 that it was suspending flights to Beijing until March 25. Israel’s Health Ministry said it will not allow flights from China to land at its airports.

Ethiopian Airlines on January 30 denied reports that it had suspended all flights to China. The airline’s statement contradicted its passenger call center, which told earlier in the day that flights to China had been suspended.

Finnair said on January 31 that it was cancelling all flights to mainland China between Feb. 6 and Feb. 29 and to Guangzhou between February 5 and March 29.

Kenya Airways said on January 31 that it has suspended all flights to China until further notice.

Lion Air, Indonesia’s Lion Air Group, said on January 29 that it would suspend all flights to China from February. The airline has suspended six flights from several Indonesian cities to China so far and will suspend the rest next month.

Lufthansa said on January 29 that it was suspending Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines flights to and from China until February 9. The airline continues to fly to Hong Kong, but it will stop taking bookings for flights to mainland China until the end of February.

Royal Air Maroc(RAM) has temporarily suspended its direct flights to China, the company said on January 30. RAM had launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing on January 16.

RwandAir has halted flights to and from China until further notice, the airline said in a statement on Friday. The decision will be reviewed later in February, it said.

SAS, Nordic airline SAS, said on January 30 that it has decided to suspend all flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing from January 31 until February 9. SAS offers 12 regular weekly connections from and to Shanghai and Beijing.

Shanghai Airlines said on January 31 that it would suspend its Chengdu-Budapest flight between February 4 and March 28 and its Xi’an-Budapest flight between February 6 and March 26 according to a statement on the website of the Budapest Airport operator. The airline’s Shanghai-Budapest flight is unaffected.

Singapore Airlines said on January 31 that it would reduce capacity on some of its routes to mainland China in February. The cuts include flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen, and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir. Its budget carrier Scoot is also cutting back on flights to China.

Turkish Airlines said on January 30 that it would decrease frequency on scheduled flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xian between February 5 and February 29.

United Airlines, Chicago-based United, said it would implement the second phase of flight cancellations between its hub cities in the United States and Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai, resulting in 332 additional round trips being called off through March 28. The cancellations will reduce the carrier’s daily departures for mainland China and Hong Kong to 4 daily departures from 12. United had previously suspended 24 US flights to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Shanghai between February 1 and February 8 because of a significant drop in demand.

United Parcel Service Inc.(UPS) has cancelled 22 China flights, as a result of the Wuhan quarantines and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday, UPS Chief Executive David Abney said on January 30. He did not specify how many flight cancellations were due to the virus.

Vietjet will suspend all flights to and from China from February 1, the company said on January 31.

Virgin Atlantic said on January 30 that it would suspend its daily operations to Shanghai for two weeks from February 2. It cited declining demand for flights and the safety of its customers and staff.

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