El Al Israel Airlines is suspending its Hong Kong flights and will be reducing flights on its Bangkok route in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the company said Wednesday. Hong Kong flights will be suspended until March 20 and daily flights to Bangkok will be reduced from two to one on certain days, the company said.<br/>
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El Al Israel Airlines expects a $30m drop in Q1 revenue stemming from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, but much of that should be offset by lower operating expenses, the company said Wednesday. Israel’s flag carrier on Jan. 30 suspended flights to Beijing until late March, following the lead of other airlines that stopped or scaled back flights to China as cases of the coronavirus have risen. El Al said the revenue loss was mostly from flights to Asia and that it was talking with authorities in Israel and around the world to continuously assess the situation.<br/>
A new budget airline created by a former United executive has raised $125m in funding and plans to start service before the end of the year. The company, operating as Houston Air Holdings, is “getting ready to spool up to transform this little charter airline we bought,” Andrew Levy said Wednesday. The strategy is to offer nonstop flights from secondary airports to midsize and large markets, Levy said. The project is the second new US airline planning to start flights in 2020. “We’re going to grow at a measured pace,” said Levy, a co-founder of Allegiant Travel. “We’re going to build the company a little bit like Allegiant, slowly and steadily,” with a foundation of “far more capital than we think we’ll ever need.” The startup will employ a fleet of Boeing 737-800’s. It will take its first plane next week from General Electric’s aircraft lessor, and use them for charter service over the summer. <br/>
Virgin Atlantic will relaunch daily flights between London Heathrow and Cape Town on October 25 for the winter season. The route will be operated by a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with economy, premium economy and business class. VS478 will depart Heathrow at 1620 and arrive in Cape Town at 0555 the following day. The inbound, VS479, will depart at 0800 and land at 1800. Bookings will open on February 18. BA has been the sole carrier on the Heathrow-Cape Town route since the collapse of Thomas Cook last year.<br/>
Turkish media are reporting troubled local operator AtlasGlobal is to cease operations again, less than two months after restoring flights. The Turkish carrier was initially forced to halt operations on 26 November last year owing to financial troubles. The carrier resumed flights just before Christmas. While there is no formal statement from AtlasGlobal on its status, Turkish media are widely reporting the carrier met with staff Thursday to inform them of the decision and that it is stopping flights. <br/>