The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the airline industry became clearer after American Airlines Inc announced that it planned to reduce about 75 per cent of its international flights till May 6 while also grounding almost all of the widebody fleet that it possess because of a collapse of travel demand due to travel curbs throughout the world dye to the virus outbreak.
This very surprising and dramatic announcement was made by the largest airline of the United States soon after US president Donald Trump announced that the travel ban earlier imposed on people coming from Europe would be extended further to include travelers form the United Kingdom.
The Trump administration also said that it wants the US Congress to quickly approve the financial support the Trump government planned to provide the US airlines reeling under the travel ban due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Suspension of almost all long-haul international flights to Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and South America is included in the cuts of international flights announced by American. While continuing to operate short-haul international flights, American will run only two flights a day to London and three flights to Asia every week — to Tokyo.
American expects that there will be a 20 per cent drop in domestic capacity for April and 30 per cent in May compared to the same period last year and said that almost all of its widebody aircraft will be grounded.
Other US airlines also said they would be cutting down international flights. Flights to the United Kingdom would be reduced by United Airlines Co and Delta Airlines Inc, the companies said. Southwest Airlines also said that it planned to cuts flights.
It was “seriously considering” cutting flights, said Southwest Airlines which is amount the very few airlines that are still flying a full schedule.
The Trump administration would “immediately” begin coordinating with Congress to seek approval for the airline and cruise industries – both of which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin even as US based airlines are struggling to reduce looses and secure jobs.
The travel ban on UK and Ireland, scheduled to start on Monday, will prevent almost all non-US citizens from entering the country if they had visited the two countries in the last 14 days, said US Vice President Mike Pence. The travel ban is not implementable on flights plying to and from the United States as well as all Americans and permanent residents who would still be allowed to travel.
Starting Monday, its flights to London from Houston and Denver would be stopped, United said. and till the end of April, three daily flights to London and one daily flight to Dublin would be operated by it, United said.
Any of its customers whose international travel is disrupted by more than six hours due to the changes in the schedule because of the government restrictions, would be credited for the value of the ticket, United said. Those customers who do not put to use the credit in 12 months would be refunded.
After initially imposing travel ban on China, the Trump administration expanded that travel ban this week to continental Europe. That resulted in almost all US airlines to cut many flights and to shore up capital.
(Source:www.financialpost.com)
This very surprising and dramatic announcement was made by the largest airline of the United States soon after US president Donald Trump announced that the travel ban earlier imposed on people coming from Europe would be extended further to include travelers form the United Kingdom.
The Trump administration also said that it wants the US Congress to quickly approve the financial support the Trump government planned to provide the US airlines reeling under the travel ban due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Suspension of almost all long-haul international flights to Asia, Australia, Europe, New Zealand and South America is included in the cuts of international flights announced by American. While continuing to operate short-haul international flights, American will run only two flights a day to London and three flights to Asia every week — to Tokyo.
American expects that there will be a 20 per cent drop in domestic capacity for April and 30 per cent in May compared to the same period last year and said that almost all of its widebody aircraft will be grounded.
Other US airlines also said they would be cutting down international flights. Flights to the United Kingdom would be reduced by United Airlines Co and Delta Airlines Inc, the companies said. Southwest Airlines also said that it planned to cuts flights.
It was “seriously considering” cutting flights, said Southwest Airlines which is amount the very few airlines that are still flying a full schedule.
The Trump administration would “immediately” begin coordinating with Congress to seek approval for the airline and cruise industries – both of which have been hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin even as US based airlines are struggling to reduce looses and secure jobs.
The travel ban on UK and Ireland, scheduled to start on Monday, will prevent almost all non-US citizens from entering the country if they had visited the two countries in the last 14 days, said US Vice President Mike Pence. The travel ban is not implementable on flights plying to and from the United States as well as all Americans and permanent residents who would still be allowed to travel.
Starting Monday, its flights to London from Houston and Denver would be stopped, United said. and till the end of April, three daily flights to London and one daily flight to Dublin would be operated by it, United said.
Any of its customers whose international travel is disrupted by more than six hours due to the changes in the schedule because of the government restrictions, would be credited for the value of the ticket, United said. Those customers who do not put to use the credit in 12 months would be refunded.
After initially imposing travel ban on China, the Trump administration expanded that travel ban this week to continental Europe. That resulted in almost all US airlines to cut many flights and to shore up capital.
(Source:www.financialpost.com)
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