British Airways, easyJet And Ryanair Cancel Hundreds Of Flights Due To Coronavirus

A number of airlines including easyJet, Ryanair and British Airways have cancelled hundreds of flights in light of coronavirus.

The Covid-19 outbreak has seen flights called off from various airports including London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London City.

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British Airways has cancelled flights to Italy, where the number of coronavirus cases now stands at over 2,000.

It has also called off flights to France (which now has 191) and Germany, which has 165 cases of the disease.

Austria, Belgium, Ireland, Switzerland and flights to New York's JFK have also been affected.

Not all flights to these destinations have been cancelled, but BA explain: "[The] situation will remain under review and we will continue to provide regular updates."

The airline also released a statement that said passengers would see "a number of flights merged" between 16th-28th March.

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"We will be contacting customers on cancelled flights so we can discuss their travel options, including re-booking onto other carriers where possible, full refunds or booking with BA for a later date of travel," the airline explained.

You can find more info on which flights have been cancelled on the 'latest information' page on the British Airways website.

Meanwhile, Ryanair has also cut a number of flights from its schedule, reducing the frequency of its flights by 25 per cent. One of the main reasons for this is due to a significant drop in bookings.

Flights scheduled between 17th March and 4th April - and especially those to Italy - are the most affected.

Ryanair has said customers will be contacted if their flight has been cancelled.

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Customers who have booked with easyJet have also been affected, with the airline removing a number of flights, mainly to and from Italy, from its schedule.

"We can confirm that we have taken the decision to cancel a number of flights mainly to and from Italy following a slowing in demand as a result of concerns over Covid-19," a spokesperson said.

"The cancellations are for some flights between 13 March and 31 March 2020, most of which have multiple daily frequencies. Customers are being contacted and moved onto flights operating on the same day or alternatively have been offered a full refund.

"Standard terms and conditions apply on all flights which are unaffected as they will be operating as normal."

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The decisions were made yesterday following the number of coronavirus cases in the UK jumping to 40.

The news was announced on Monday afternoon, with Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty confirming the patients had previously travelled to Italy. The patients are from Hertfordshire, Devon and Kent, he said on Twitter.

Yesterday, prime minister Boris Johnson chaired an emergency Cobra meeting where the official government plan on how to tackle and contain the virus was signed off.

Following the meeting, he said the spread of the virus in the UK was "likely".

"We have also agreed a plan so that if and when it starts to spread, as I'm afraid it looks likely it will, we are in a position to take the steps necessary to... contain the spread of the disease as far as we can, and to protect the most vulnerable," he said.

The UK action plan will be published today, on Tuesday 3rd March.

There are now 90,933 reported cases of coronavirus across the globe, with 3,119 deaths. See below for the latest coronavirus cases in each country.

China - 80,152

South Korea - 4,812

Italy - 2,306

Iran - 1,501

Japan - 274

France - 191

Germany - 165

Spain - 120

Singapore - 108

USA - 103

Hong Kong - 100

Kuwait - 56

Bahrain - 49

Thailand - 43

Taiwan - 41

UK - 40

Australia - 34

Switzerland - 30

Malaysia - 29

Canada - 27

Iraq - 26

Norway - 25

UAE - 21

Austria - 18

Netherlands - 18

Vietnam - 16

Sweden - 15

Macao - 10

Israel - 10

Lebanon - 10

Iceland - 9

San Marino - 8

Belgium - 8

Croatia - 8

Greece - 7

Qatar - 7

Ecuador - 6

Finland - 6

Oman - 6

India - 6

Mexico - 6

Pakistan - 5

Algeria - 5

Denmark - 4

Czechia - 4

Philippines - 3

Azerbaijan - 3

Georgia - 3

Romania - 3

Russia - 3

Brazil - 2

Egypt - 2

Indonesia - 2

Portugal - 2

Afghanistan - 1

Andorra - 1

Armenia - 1

Belarus - 1

Cambodia - 1

Dominican Republic - 1

Estonia - 1

Ireland - 1

Jordan - 1

Lithuania - 1

Luxembourg - 1

North Macedonia - 1

Monaco - 1

Nepal - 1

New Zealand - 1

Nigeria - 1

Sri Lanka - 1

Diamond Princess cruise ship - 706

Topics: Ryanair, Coronavirus, travel

Lucy Devine

Lucy is a journalist working for Tyla. After graduating with a master's degree in journalism, she has worked in both print and online and is particularly interested in fashion, food, health and women's issues. Northerner, coffee addict, says hun a lot. Get in touch at [email protected].

@lucedevine