Qatar Airways is the latest carrier to suspend flights to Mainland China as part of efforts to curb the spread of the Coronavirus, which originated in the country.
The Doha-based airline will suspend flights to Mainland China from February 3, 2020 until further notice, due to “significant operational challenges caused by entry restrictions imposed by several countries”. An ongoing review of operations will be conducted weekly with the intention to reinstate the flights as soon as the restrictions are lifted.
The carrier says that the main reason for the suspension is that so many of its crew have recently travelled to Mainland China, placing additional pressure on its ability to maintain crew levels on certain routes while also continuing its normal operations around the world.
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“We have been placed in a challenging operational situation where the airline cannot continue with its global operations as a result of these restrictions on anyone who has visited China,” says Qatar Airways group chief executive Akbar Al Baker. “If we continue operations, the significant numbers of crew who would have travelled to China would be limited to operate on certain flights, reducing our operational effectiveness. We will immediately resume our operations to China once the governmental restrictions are lifted.”
Qatar is the latest carrier to announce cuts to its China services. Korean Air has also suspended its flights between Incheon and Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, until March 27, 2020, and will suspend or reduce the frequency of some of its routes to China in consideration of the falling demand due to the new coronavirus. The airline has also made changes to its inflight service, introducing disposable cutlery on all China routes, catering for return flights from Hong Kong, Beijing, Taipei and Shanghai out of Seoul, and cutting blankets and pillows on those routes.
Cathay Pacific also recently announced changes to its inflight services to cater to the growing outbreak of the flu-like virus. The airline, along with its regional subsidiary Cathay Dragon, was among the first to slash services to Mainland China, progressively reducing capacity to China by 50 percent until the end of March. The two carriers currently operate almost 800 flights to Mainland China a week. Competitor Hong Kong Airlines will also cut flights to Haikou, Sanya, Nanjing, Shanghai Pudong, Shanghai Hongqiao, Beijing, Tianjin, Chengdu, Chongqing, and Guiyang.
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SAS has also suspended all flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing until February 9 and has suspended sales of flights on the routes until February 29, 2020. Hong Kong will be serviced as scheduled, and SAS has said that it will “continue to monitor the situation in constant dialogue with authorities regarding information about the [2019-nCoV] situation”. Passengers holding a ticket issued on or before January 28 for a flight to and from Shanghai and Beijing between February 10 and 29 also have the possibility to rebook once free of charge to a flight on the original route or to cancel the trip. Customers travelling to, from or via Hong Kong can voluntarily change their reservation or request a refund.
Following the Government of Canada’s advisory to avoid non-essential travel to Mainland China, Air Canada, which operates direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai from Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, has temporarily suspended all direct flights to Mainland China, effective until February 29, 2020.
American Airlines has also suspended flights to Beijing and Shanghai from Los Angeles until March 27, a move that coincided with the US’s new travel ban on foreigners who have visited China in the past 14 days. The carrier has also been cancelling its flights between Hong Kong and Los Angeles and Dallas and will continue to review the operation of those flights on a daily basis.
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In addition, Delta will cut its flights to China in half until April 30. The Atlanta-based airline currently operates flights to Beijing from Detroit and Seattle and to Shanghai from Atlanta, Detroit, Los Angeles, and Seattle, while United, which operates the most flights between the US and Mainland China, will cut its services by approximately 25%.
Air India has also canceled its direct flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Shanghai until February 14 and has cut its daily flights to Hong Kong to three times a week during the same period.
British Airways has suspended its direct flights between London Heathrow and Beijing and Shanghai until February 29. Fellow oneworld carrier Finnair has cut its three-weekly service to Beijing’s new Daxing International airport until March 29 but will still operate services to Shanghai and Beijing’s other airport.
KLM will halt flights to Chengdu and Hangzhou until February 29, and has reduced flights to Shanghai by 25%, while its service to Beijing remains unchanged.
Lion Air from Indonesia has cancelled all flights to China indefinitely, while Lufthansa, as well as its subsidiaries Austrian and Swiss Air, has suspended Mainland China flights until February 9, 2020.
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