United said late Wednesday it will extend cancellations of all US flights to China through late April due to the coronavirus epidemic. With the announcement by United, all US passenger carriers flying to China have now cancelled flights into late April. Carriers say part of the reason is a dramatic drop-off in demand. United said it was extending cancellations of flights to Hong Kong, which had been set to resume on Feb. 21, and for flights to mainland China, that had been set to resume on March 28. Flights will resume starting April 24. United normally operates roughly 12 flights per day from the US to mainland China and Hong Kong.<br/>
star
Air China will cancel flights to Athens, Greece, from Feb. 17 to March 18 as a precaution to stem the coronavirus outbreak, an Air China company official in Greece said Wednesday. "The reason is public safety because of the coronavirus and there are operational reasons as well," an officer at the airline's Athens office said. Air China currently flies to Athens from Beijing three times a week, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. So far there have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Greece but health authorities are on full alert.<br/>
Colombia’s attorney general’s office searched the offices of embattled Avianca Wednesday as part of an investigation into alleged irregular ticketing practices. Officials originallysaid the search was connected to an investigation into an alleged bribery scheme involving European manufacturer Airbus, before later clarifying that though the search may provide information for the Airbus probe it is based on the ticketing case. Computer equipment at Avianca’s offices thought to contain “detailed information” prompted Wednesday’s search as part of an effort to “obtain probatory material,” the attorney general’s office said Wednesday afternoon. “Since not all the requested equipment was handed over at the headquarters of the company, the attorney general’s office ordered a search warrant,” added the statement. In a statement later, Avianca said the search was related to the ticketing investigation.<br/>
Ethiopian Airlines has planned to introduce daily flights to Africa from Oslo Airport each Thursday. Ethiopian Airlines in Norway country manager Mussie Fitehamlak has stated that the introduction of the flights will benefit the Norwegian passengers. He added: “We’ve scheduled the Oslo route to fit in well with our connections to the rest of Africa in terms of arrivals and departures from Addis Ababa.” Oslo Airport is operated by Avinor. Avinor traffic development director Jasper Spruit added that this route is expected to become ‘very popular among Norwegian passengers.’ The flight route will depart at 6:45pm local time (GMT +0100) from Oslo Airport and reach Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa at 5:30am local time (GMT +0300). The return flight from Addis Ababa will depart at 11:40pm and arrive at 8:45am the next morning. The airline will use the Dreamliner aircraft.<br/>
Scandinavian Airlines has temporarily removed an online ad after criticism on social media, particularly from anti-immigration parties, that the video detracts the region’s culture and history. The video, entitled “What is Scandinavian for real? Absolutely nothing,” was uploaded Tuesday and was taken down hours later. The video says that what is usually considered to be Scandinavian, like democracy, open sandwiches, parental leave and Swedish meatballs, have been imported and Scandinavia was “brought here, bit by bit, by ordinary people who found the best of our home in other places.” Richard Jomshof, a lawmaker with the anti-immigrant populist party Sweden Democrats, said the video is “really devilish nonsense and self-hatred. Have always tried to fly with SAS, but never again. It’s a promise.” The airline said it stands by the core message that travel enriches people. But it added that the reaction online to the ad suggested an “online attack,” without elaborating. “We have therefore temporarily removed the film from our channels,” it said.<br/>
Air India CMD Aswani Lohani said Wednesday that rumours that national carrier is going to shut down are totally false. "Air India employees need not worry. Nothing wrong will happen to them... Rumours that Air India is going to shut down are totally false. Air India will continue its operations," Lohani said. "Air India is still a great airline. It is always there when the country needs Air India. Recently, we brought back Indians from Wuhan. There are a lot of other evacuation stories," he said. Earlier, Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri had said that the entire dues and arrears of Air India employees will be paid before the proposed disinvestment of the airline is concluded, as the govt set the ball rolling for the privatisation of the carrier. Earlier Wednesday, the government invited preliminary bids to divest its entire stake in Air India, and the airline's subsidiary Air India Express along with its joint venture Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited.<br/>