Coronavirus: Airlines cancel thousands of flights

Thousands of flights have been cancelled worldwide as airlines struggle to cope with a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

According to BBC, Ryanair will stop services to and from Italy from Friday until 8 April, with BA scrapping its routes until 4 April as the country goes into lockdown.

EasyJet has cancelled all of its flights to and from Italy between 10 March and 3 April.

It has said it will operate “rescue flights” in the coming days.

Norwegian Air has also said it will cut about 3,000 flights in the next three months, about 15% of its capacity.

It also plans to temporarily lay off “a significant share” of its workforce.

“We have initiated formal consultations with our unions regarding temporary layoffs for flying crew members as well as employees on the ground and in the offices,” said chief executive Jacob Schram.

While the restrictions on travel to Italy and China have meant some services have stopped completely, there has also been a general fall in demand as holiday-makers put their plans on hold and firms instruct staff to limit travel.

Ghost flights:

Some airlines had continued to operate near-empty flights in order to protect their rights to take-off and landing slots. Under EU “use it or lose it” rules they were required to run services on busy routes or forfeit them to other operators.

However, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen has announced that airlines will be allowed to keep their slots even if they are not flying routes.

“This is a temporary measure, and this temporary measure helps both our industry, but it also helps our environment,” she said.

“It will relieve the pressure on the aviation industry and in particular, on smaller airline companies. But it will also decrease emissions by avoiding so-called ghost flights.”

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