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Bloomberg The airline downturn reached new levels as carriers from American Airlines Group Inc to British Airways parent IAG SA slashed schedules and braced for a drought that could last for months. American will pare long-haul international flights by 75% — the biggest reductions to date by a US-based carrier — because of the collapse in travel demand and government …

Bloomberg Scandinavian airline SAS AB will temporarily lay off up to 10,000 employees, or 90% of its workforce, in response to the fallout from the coronavirus and related measures from authorities that have restricted international air travel. “It is important to say that we do not intend this to lead to permanent layoffs,” said the company’s chief executive officer Rickard …

Bloomberg Air New Zealand Ltd will slash its long-haul capacity by 85%, suspend some routes to North America and Asia and begin job cuts amid travel restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Shares in the airline, which have declined 47% this year as the outbreak hits the aviation industry globally, were placed in trading halt on Monday while the company …

Bloomberg Cambridge University student James Shen didn’t hesitate to pay double for a business-class ticket to fly to China last week, deciding it would be safer there than in the UK as the coronavirus spreads in Europe. “I feel much more protected here,” Shen said after arriving home in Suzhou, about 60 miles (95 kilometres) west of Shanghai. “In the …

Bloomberg Finland’s national carrier Finnair Oyj will slash 90% of its flight capacity in response to a decline in demand caused by the global new coronavirus pandemic, resulting in a substantial operating loss this year. The airline also withdrew its dividend proposal and plans to cut costs, according to a statement on Monday. In addition, it is implementing a funding …

Bloomberg Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Primark are bracing for an unprecedented slump in European sales as the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak shifts from China. Primark has closed shops that generate 30% of its total revenue as governments ordered shutdowns. H&M is shutting stores in 13 European countries, including Italy, which has more than 24,000 cases of Covid-19. The …

GENEVA / WAM All World Trade Organisation (WTO), meetings are suspended until the end of April and Secretariat staff have been requested to work from home until the end of March. Director-General Roberto Azevedo has informed WTO members and staff that access to the organisation’s premises will be restricted as of March 16. “In light of developments related to the …

Bloomberg Europeans were faced with increasingly draconian restrictions on public life on Sunday, as governments from Spain to Scandinavia and the Baltic tried to check the spread of the coronavirus and limit the damage to continent’s fragile economies. With Europe now the epicenter of outbreak, Austria banned gatherings of more than five people, urged citizens to self-isolate and said it …

Bloomberg Never in modern trading history have Canadian stocks fallen so much in a single day of trading as they did this week. Growing alarm over the coronavirus and plummeting oil prices have been catalysts for the slump. But one historian sees two underlying factors at play: a fractured geopolitical environment that has coincided with market volatility the world over, …

Bloomberg Bitcoin is proving to be no haven asset amid the current global market meltdown. The price of the largest digital currency continued to swing wildly as a rout that began in earnest showed no signs of slowing down. Bitcoin dropped as much as 32% to $3,915, its weakest since March 2019, before clawing back loss, according to consolidated pricing …