Coronavirus pandemic: Massive flight cancellations

The coronavirus pandemic has brought the travel industry to a halt, as more airports across Europe shut down, flights are suspended, and the countries have applied harsh transport restrictions.

Here is some information on what is happening across Europe:

In Belgium, COVID-19 prompts nationwide shutdown. Greece suspended all passenger flights because of COVID-19 from Sunday night, March 22. The U.S. Embassy in Bulgaria reports enhanced screening, quarantine measures, travel restrictions. U.S. citizens who are considering returning to the United States are urged to work with their airlines to make travel arrangements while flights are still available. Bulgaria has temporarily barred admission to (non-EU) nationals, including U.S. citizens, from March 20, 2020, at 12:00 a.m. and until April 17. This includes all border crossing points with any means of transport, including aviation, maritime, rail, and road. U.S. Embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina updates its information on enhanced screening and quarantine measures. Government in Serbia closed all borders in effort to stop spread of COVID-19. U.S. Embassy in Croatia reports about travel restrictions, enhanced screening and quarantine measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. In the UK, London’s Heathrow Airport is to reduce operations because of COVID-19; plans to continue some passenger, cargo flights. London Southend Airport suspends most flights. Train services across the UK were reduced on March 23.

Airlines have been cancelling flights all over the world, amid the coronavirus pandemic:

Air Serbia and Wizz Air:  flights are affected as Belgrade Nikola Tesla Airport is closed as of March 20. Air Antwerp: cancelled flights from March 22 until April 10. Transavia cancelled all flights from March 23 until April 5. Aeroflot: will suspend its flights to several destinations until April 30. Rossiya: announced it was suspending its flight from St. Petersburg to London. Air Malta: will suspend all commercial flights until further notice. Swiss: reduced flight operations to a minimum from March 23. Vietnam Airlines: to halt all international flights until at least April 30. Wizz Air suspends all inbound, outbound flights to Malta until April 10. Uganda Airlines suspends flights to Kilimanjaro, Mogadishu, Mombasa and Zanzibar. Comair: temporarily suspends its regional flights, including Windhoek (Namibia), Livingstone (Zambia), Harare (Zimbabwe), Victoria Falls (Zimbabwe) and Mauritius. Canadian low-cost airline Swoop suspended international flights from March 22 to May 31. Low-cost carrier HK Express suspended flights for the period March 23-April 30. Cathay Pacific Airways to reduce passenger capacity by 96 percent in April and May. South African Airways suspended all international operations until 31 May.

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