American Airlines launches £13 flights in the US during coronavirus pandemic

The carrier is offering bargain fares throughout April

(Getty Images)

An airline in the US is offering cut-price fares despite the rapid spread of coronavirus across the country.

American Airlines has launched $16 (£13) flights between Miami and Los Angeles to entice travellers, meaning a round-trip of 2,340 miles, taking more than 11 hours, costs just $32 (£26).

The fare is available throughout April, according to One Mile at a Time, with single tickets costing just $28 (£23) in May.

By comparison, the price shoots up to £194 for a return flight in July and August.

While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says it “does not generally issue advisories or restrictions for travel within the United States,” it states that travellers should consider the fact that crowded travel settings, such as airports, “may increase chances of getting Covid-19”.

It asks passengers to consider factors including whether coronavirus is spreading in the destination they are heading to, and whether there is anyone at-risk in their household, before making a domestic trip.

This weekend, the CDC issued a new travel advisory asking residents of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to refrain from all non-essential domestic travel for 14 days, starting from 28 March.

The decision was taken after “extensive community transmission of Covid-19 in the area”.

It comes as the White House’s top infectious disease expert, Dr Anthony Fauci, warned that his projection of a potential 100,000 to 200,000 American deaths is “entirely conceivable” if not enough is done to mitigate the crisis. The number of confirmed cases in the US is more than 122,000 at the time of writing, the highest number of any country in the world.

President Trump commented that containing the death toll to that level would represent “a very good job”.