Coronavirus: British Airways and Ryanair cancel more flights due to deadly outbreak

BA and Ryanair have cancelled hundreds of flights as passenger numbers tumble

British Airways has announced more than 400 additional flight cancellations between 16 and 28 March.

The vast majority – 342 – are short-haul flights to and from the airline’s main base at Heathrow.

One daily round-trip from Heathrow to New York is axed. BA is also cancelling 14 departures and arrivals serving destinations in Italy, France and Albania from Gatwick.

A total of 52 services connecting London City to Germany and Italy have been cancelled as well.

“Customers on cancelled services will be offered the option of a full refund, rebook to a later date or rebook on other carriers where possible,” said British Airways.

The services would normally be expected to carry around 70,000 passengers.

BA and many other airlines have seen bookings slump because of concerns over coronavirus.

To increase bookings, BA is emulating the US airline JetBlue by offering fee-free changes in a bid to spur bookings.

For new bookings made between Tuesday 3 March and Monday 16 March 2020, it will allow customers to change flights without the usual penalties.

But crucially, passengers cannot ask for a refund or credit note if they decide not to travel. And if the new flight is more expensive, they will have to pay the difference.

Nor does the offer apply to British Airways passengers with existing reservations.

The airline’s chief commercial officer, Andrew Brem, said: “As some customers may choose to change or delay their travel plans at the moment, it’s important we offer them greater flexibility.

“By waiving our change fee our customers can have the added confidence to book a trip with British Airways that suits them.”

Europe’s biggest budget airline, Ryanair, says it has told tens of thousands of passengers that their flights are cancelled – as it reduces capacity by up to a quarter for the 23 days from Tuesday 17 March to Wednesday 8 April.

The airline said: “Over the past week, Ryanair has seen a significant drop in bookings over that late March/early April period, in response to the Covid-19 virus.

“There has also been a significant step up in passenger no-shows on flights, particularly from and within Italy.”

The airline group’s chief executive, Michael O’Leary, said: “While we are heavily booked over the next two weeks, there has been a notable drop in forward bookings towards the end of March, into early April. It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.

“This is a time for calm. All affected customers will be advised of any schedule changes at least 14 days in advance.”

Ryanair also predicted that some rival carriers will go out of business: “We expect that this Covid-19 virus will result in further EU airline failures over the coming weeks.”