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Bloomberg
Deutsche Lufthansa AG will significantly curtail flights and ground more planes in a new sign of the coronavirus’s escalating toll on travel.
The German flag carrier will cut as much as a quarter of its short- and medium-haul flights across all brands in the coming weeks. The number of grounded aircraft for long-haul services will rise to 23 from the current 13, the company said in a statement. Lufthansa may also reduce working hours.
The pullback underscores the pain airlines are feeling from the outbreak, which began in China and has spread to 52 countries and territories.
Companies are putting lucrative corporate travel on hold, while industry groups cancel major events and leisure travellers reconsider vacation bookings.
The airline industry is expecting the first annual decline in global passenger demand in 11 years, with lost revenue of about $30 billion, according to the International Air Transport Association.
The coronavirus prompted 347,414 flights to be cancelled or removed from airline schedules from January 24 to February 27, according to Cirium, a travel-analytics company. The total includes 290,519 flights within China.
United Airlines Holdings Inc, the biggest US carrier on trans-Pacific routes, is paring more service to Asia as travel demand sinks.
The US airline is cancelling flights from Los Angeles and Houston to Tokyo’s Narita airport from March 8 to April 24. Service from Chicago to Narita will be scrapped March 8 to March 27, the company said.
Lufthansa, which holds its annual press conference on March 19, said it can’t yet estimate the earnings impact of the outbreak.