Singapore Airlines, SilkAir suspend some flights to China over coronavirus outbreak

SIA and its regional wing SilkAir will suspend some flights to China after fears over the novel coronavirus outbreak affected demand "significantly", Singapore's national carrier said on Monday. "Minimum connectivity" to several key cities will be maintained, SIA said. The move comes after demand for air travel between Singapore and China declined significantly as a result of the outbreak, said SIA. As a result, services to some Chinese destinations will be "temporarily suspended until the situation improves", it added. Several SIA flights between Singapore and Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will be suspended between Feb 4 and Mar 29. Some SilkAir flights between Singapore and Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu and Chongqing will be halted during that period. SIA said that the group will maintain some connectivity to key cities. SIA said that it will operate seven flights each to Beijing and Shanghai weekly, thrice a week to Guangzhou and once a week to Chongqing. "As the national carrier, we will continue to maintain minimum connectivity to the key cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing for now despite the reduced demand," SIA said. SIA had said on Jan 31 said it would reduce capacity on some of its routes to China in February due to the growing scale of the coronavirus epidemic.<br/>