Over 200,000 flights have now been cancelled or proactively removed from schedules to, from and within China due to coronavirus, according to Cirium.
The figure – which accounts for over two thirds of China’s originally scheduled flights – dates from when the authorities restricted travel in and out of Wuhan Tianhe International Airport on January 23rd to February 18th.
As the virus transmission and infection rates rise, airlines are increasingly cancelling flights.
A total of 99,254 flights have not flown against the adjusted schedule between January 23rd and February 18th with domestic flights accounting for 89 per cent of that figure.
However, Cirium data shows more international carriers are now cancelling flights, particularly those linking to Greater China.
Between January 23rd and January 28th, the number of flights not flown totalled 9,807 with only domestic services affected at that stage.
The unprecedented increase since then highlights the speed at which airlines have acted to help contain the outbreak.
As well as flights being cancelled or not flown, Cirium’s analysis also shows airlines proactively removing flights from their future schedules.
Richard Evans, senior consultant at Ascend by Cirium, said: “The…
