Category Archives: Aviation

The Lufthansa Group carrier Austrian Airlines will temporarily suspend scheduled flight operations as of Thursday, 19 March 2020. Austrian Airlines is thus reacting to the entry restrictions imposed by many countries in response to the massive spread of the coronavirus. For the time being, the last flight with flight number OS 066 will land in Vienna from Chicago at 8:20 a.m. on 19 March. Until then, flight operations are to be reduced in a controlled and structured manner in order to bring all passengers and crews home if possible. Initially Austrian Airlines will cancel all flights until March 28th 2020, and passengers who have booked a flight with Austrian Airlines during this period will be rebooked on other airlines if possible. In addition, Lufthansa Group airlines will further reduce their short- and long-haul schedule. The cancellations, which will be published as early as tomorrow, March 17th, will lead to a sharp decline in long-haul service especially in the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. Overall, the Lufthansa Group’s seating capacity on long-haul routes will be reduced by up to 90 per cent. A total of 1,300 weekly connections were originally planned for summer 2020. Within Europe the flight schedule will also be further reduced. Starting tomorrow, around 20 percent of the originally planned seating capacity will still be offered. Originally, some 11,700 weekly short-haul flights were planned for summer 2020 with Lufthansa Group airlines. The additional cancellations will be published over the next few days and passengers will be informed accordingly. Despite the large-scale cancellations, Lufthansa, Eurowings and Austrian Airlines have scheduled more than 20 special flights with over 6,000 guests on short notice to fly cruise passengers …

Given the extraordinary circumstances caused by the worldwide Coronavirus crisis, Brussels Airlines has decided to temporarily suspend its flight operations from 21 March 2020. Between now and then, Brussels Airlines’ flight operations will be reduced gradually in a controlled and structured manner in order to bring passengers and crews home. The decision of Brussels Airlines to temporarily suspend all its flights between 21 March and 20 April has also been taken following the measures imposed by different authorities, such as the negative travel advice of the Belgian authorities, which Brussels Airlines fully understands, and the increasing number of national authorities in Europe and beyond who no longer allow flights to their territory. As of today, 17 March, the airline will gradually reduce its flight schedule until 20 March. From 21 March until 19 April included, all flights will be suspended. A continued and extended goodwill policy for customers is in place, offering them the opportunity to reschedule their flights to a later date. All intercontinental departures to Africa, will as of tomorrow 17 March be postponed to the afternoon, for connectivity reasons with the short haul network. The Belgian carrier will continue to keep a minimal capacity on standby base for repatriation flights should this be required. Brussels Airlines CEO Dieter Vranckx: “We will continuously monitor the situation and communicate accordingly, planning a restart of our operations on 20 April to welcome our guests on board again. As a responsible company, we need to take the decision to temporarily cease our operations. It will allow us to reduce the negative financial impact on our company. “ The spread of the coronavirus and associated flight bans and other measures restricting air …

As per the DGCA advisory to restrict international traffic from Turkey and Malaysia, IndiGo will be cancelling its flights between Delhi-Istanbul and Chennai-Kuala Lumpur from March 18, 2020 until March 31, 2020. The airline has already cancelled flights between Bangalore-Kuala Lumpur until March 31, 2020 and Delhi-Kuala Lumpur until April 30, 2020. These are purely temporary and precautionary measures. We understand that these measures will cause inconvenience to our customers and we will be refunding the full amount to the impacted passengers.

Aviation regulator DGCA has directed all domestic and international carriers to “scrupulously” follow the fresh travel restrictions announced by the government on Monday, which cover countries from the European Union and the UK, and Turkey. With cases of coronavirus swelling in the country, the government on Monday prohibited entry of passengers from EU countries, Turkey and the UK from March 18 till March 31. “Travel of passengers from member countries of the European Union, the European Free Trade Association, Turkey and the UK to India is prohibited with effect from March 18. No airline shall board a passenger from these nations with effect from 1200 GMT on March 18. The airline shall enforce it at the initial port of departure,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a circular. It also said the government has expanded compulsory quarantine for a minimum period of 14 days for passengers coming or transiting through Qatar, UAE, Oman and Kuwait and this will also come into effect from 1200 GMT of March 18 at the port of first departure. “Both these restrictions are temporary measures and shall be in force till March 31 and will be reviewed subsequently. “All scheduled Indian and foreign airlines engaged in international transportation to and from India, therefore, are directed to scrupulously follow above advisory and not to carry any passenger in violation thereof,” the DGCA said in the circular.

As a result of the coronavirus and the measures implemented by national authorities, the demand for air travel is virtually non-existent. SAS has therefore decided to put most of its operations on hold, starting on Monday 16 March and until the necessary conditions for commercial aviation return. To help our customers, SAS will, as far as possible, maintain a certain level of operation over the next few days to enable travelers to return from different destinations . We will be at the disposal of the authorities, at their request, to bring stranded citizens home or maintain community-critical infrastructure for as long as possible. This also means that SAS is unfortunately forced to temporarily reduce its workforce by up to 10,000 employees, corresponding to 90% of the workforce . The temporary reductions will affect all parts of SAS and will be implemented in accordance with national legislation in each country . SAS implements these measures in order to return to normal operation as soon as the situation permits.

Lufthansa Group Airlines Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Air Dolomiti are expanding their existing, comprehensive rebooking options in the interests of their customers due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the coronavirus. Customers who have tickets for cancelled and also existing Lufthansa Group Airline flights can keep this ticket without having to commit to a new flight date directly. Existing bookings will be cancelled for the time being, but the ticket and ticket value will remain unchanged and can be rebooked to a new departure date up to and including 31 December 2020. This rule applies to tickets booked up to and including 12 March 2020 and having a confirmed travel date up to and including 30 April 2020. Customers are requested to inform us of their desired rebooking by 1 June 2020. No rebooking fees will be charged. If the original fare is no longer available, the corresponding difference must be paid when the rebooking is made. In addition, customers can also rebook to another destination. With this extended goodwill arrangement, Lufthansa Group Airlines are responding to the wish of many customers to be able to have more flexibility regarding their travel plans given the current exceptional circumstances. Last week, the Lufthansa Group already introduced flexible rebooking options for its customers with regard to existing and future bookings. More information is available at lh.com. In addition, customers can contact the service hotline at any time on +49 (0) 69 86 799 799 to change their reservations.

Aeroflot has adjusted its flight schedules to destinations in Europe. From 16 March, Aeroflot will continue to operate flights from Moscow to the following destinations in Europe: Amsterdam, Athens, Belgrade, Berlin, Brussels, Bucharest, Budapest, Dublin, Geneva, Helsinki, Larnaca, Lisbon, Ljubljana, London, Madrid, Paris, Riga, Rome, Sofia, Stockholm, Tivat and Zagreb. Aeroflot has temporarily suspended flights between Moscow and the following cities: Barcelona (21 March to 30 April) Bukhara (16 March to 30 April) Chishinau (19 March to 31 March) Copenhagen (17 March and subsequently from 21 March to 30 April) Frankfurt (19 March to 30 April) Munich (19 March to 30 April) Oslo (18 March to 30 April) Prague (20 March to 30 April) Samarkand (16 March to 30 April) Tallinn (19 March to 30 April) Tashkent (16 March to 30 April) Thessaloniki (16 March to 30 April) Vienna (20 March to 30 April) Vilnius (19 March to 30 March) Warsaw (15 March to 27 March) Zurich (19 March to 30 April) Aeroflot will continue operating the following flights to allow Russian citizens to return to Russia: Prague – SU2012/SU2013 and SU2016/2017 (16 to 19 March) Frankfurt – SU2300/2301 (16, 17, 18 March), SU2304/2305 (16, 17 March) and SU2656/2657 (18 March) Munich – SU2322/2323 (16, 17, 18 March) Barcelona – SU2638/2639 (16, 17, 18, 19, 20 March), SU2512/2513 (16, 17, 19, 20 March) and SU2514/2515 (18 March) Zurich – SU2486/2487 (16-18 March) Copenhagen – SU2658/2659 (16, 18, 19, 20 March) Oslo – SU2174/2175 (16-17 March) Chishinau – SU1844/1845 (16-18 March) Vilnius – SU2108/2109 (16-17 March) Warsaw – SU2002/2003 (16-18 March) Tallinn – SU2106/2107 (17-19 March) Vienna – SU2184/2185 (17, 18, 19 March), SU2352/2353 (17, 19 March) and SU2354/2355 (18, 19 March) Scheduled Rossiya Airlines flights operated under Aeroflot’s SU code from St Petersburg to EU destinations including Larnaca, Prague and Vienna, as well as to …

Finnair is cancelling all flights to the US between 19 March and 12 April due to the US Government’s travel restrictions. Finnair is also cancelling its flights to Delhi between 15 March and 14 April due to recent visa restrictions. Finnair flies from Helsinki to New York and back until 18 March, in order to fly customers home. For flights departing 14 – 18 March, restrictions on Schengen passengers going to the US will be in effect as specified by the US authorities. Finnair also flies to Los Angeles on Sunday 15 March and to Miami today, 12 March. Finnair is continuously following the impacts of the coronavirus situation. Due to the decreased transfer passenger loads caused by these cancelations, further impacts on Finnair’s narrow-body traffic in Europe are to be expected. Finnair will communicate these changes once such decisions are made. Finnair will communicate flight cancellations directly to customers who have bookings on these flights. Customers can then either seek for a full ticket refund or postpone their travel by contacting Finnair’s customer services. Unfortunately, the customer service lines are very congested at the moment, so we suggest customers who don’t have bookings for immediate departures to contact Finnair’s customer services at a later stage. In addition, Finnair is offering customers with bookings on Finnair flights full flexibility to change their travel dates without a change fee until 30 November, 2020.

Air France has taken note of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS)’s announcement of new United States border restrictions as of 14 March 2020. Flights to and from the United States are operating as normal on 13 March 2020. From 14 to 28 March 2020 included, Air France plans to continue operations to Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, New York JFK, San Francisco and Washington. Air France is working with its partners KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic on implementing a plan to continue service to the United States for its customers beyond 28 March 2020.

In light of recent travel restrictions imposed by various governments, including Singapore and Australia, in response to the Covid-19 outbreak, AirAsia is making the following provisions available for guests who are unable to travel due to their travel history, nationalities or respective travel bans. 1. Move flight: One-time flight change to a new travel date on the same route within 90 calendar days from the original flight time without additional cost, subject to seat availability; OR 2. Credit account: Retain the value of your fare in your AirAsia BIG Loyalty account for future travel with AirAsia. The online credit account is to be redeemed for booking within 365 calendar days from the issuance date for your travel with us. The actual travel dates can be after the expiry date as long as our flight schedule is out. The above options are available for flights ticketed prior to 7 March, for flight departure until 30 April. Guests who wish to choose any of these options when making voluntary changes to their travel plans may do so via support.airasia.com.  Meanwhile, guests whose travel plans are affected by restrictions or cancellations are advised to refer to the Covid-19 Refund Request Guide. AirAsia assures that the safety and wellbeing of our guests and Allstars is our top priority. AirAsia is complying with advice and regulations from the local government, civil aviation authorities, global and local health agencies, including the World Health Organization. AirAsia is closely monitoring the public health situation and reserves the right to announce further policies according to the latest developments.