Japanese Airlines Consider Flight Suspensions
Japanese airlines are seeing a sharp decline in the number of passengers going to and coming from China since the coronavirus outbreak. They are considering suspending some flights for both business and health-safety reasons.
All Nippon Airways operates over 20 round trips a day between Japan and China. So far, only the Wuhan service has been suspended. ANA officials say they are keeping a close watch on the situation.
ANA Holdings executive Ichiro Fukuzawa said, "If you look at only the impact of the Wuhan route, it is less than 1percent of international passenger revenue. But the number of reservations for flights from China to Japan in February fell to half that of the previous year, while Japan to China routes decreased 40 percent."
Japan Airlines says it will continue to operate flights to China. But that could change at any time.
Many carriers in other countries have either started suspending flights to China's major cities or are planning to do so.
American Airlines is putting services to China and some other destinations on hold -- and for quite some time. There won't be any flights between the US and Chinese cities from February 9th to March 27th.
Air France is suspending flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai, from Saturday and until February 9.
The airline plans to dispatch aircraft to China to evacuate customers and crew members.
European carriers that have announced suspensions include British Airways, Germany's Lufthansa and Spain's Iberia.
