Ryanair, British Airways and United Airlines have become the latest carriers to announce further cuts due to the coronavirus crisis.
The news comes as Italy’s death toll rose to 52 on Tuesday, with 1,835 confirmed cases, and the US’s to six, with 75 confirmed cases.
Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said, “It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.”
The Irish airline, now Europe’s largest, will cut 25 per cent of its flights in and out of Italy from 17 March to 8 April, though declined to go into more specifics.
British Airways is cancelling 216 flights from 16-28 March from London to destinations such as New York, Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Germany and Ireland.
Meanwhile, United is axing journeys to Tokyo Narita, Osaka, Singapore and Seoul between March and April, and extended the suspension period for flights to China and Hong Kong until the end of April.
British Airways said in a statement, “To match reduced demand due to the continuing coronavirus issue, we are merging a number of flights between March 16 and March 28.
“We will be contacting customers on cancelled flights so we can discuss their travel options, including rebooking onto other carriers where possible, full refunds or booking with BA for a later date of travel.”
