British Airways became the first major carrier to cut services to Italy following the spread of the coronavirus there, saying it will eliminate 22 round-trip flights to Milan through March 11. BA said Wednesday that it took the decision following a reduction in demand for travel to the city in the Lombardy region, where the Italian outbreak is concentrated. The move affects a minority of BA services to Milan’s Linate airport, where the UK arm of IAG operates 8 daily trips. A twice-daily service to Malpensa airport will continue. People with bookings to Turin, Bologna, Venice, Bergamo and Verona can also shift travel to another date. As of Wednesday, at least 11 people had died from the disease in Italy, while more than 300 had been infected. <br/>
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Airlines are turning to some of the world’s hardest-hitting disinfectants, capable of stopping everything from sexually transmitted diseases to the MRSA superbug, in the fight against the coronavirus. Qantas, Korean Air and Scoot are among carriers that helped evacuate people from the outbreak’s epicentre, Wuhan, and from a cruise ship off Japan. They’ve stepped up aircraft-cleaning efforts as a result, trying to ensure that planes used in rescue missions are safe to be put back into commercial use. Qantas used Viraclean, a hospital-grade disinfectant. It’s a pink, lemon-scented liquid that kills a range of bacteria and viruses including Hepatitis B and herpes simplex. Korean Air opted for MD-125, a diluted version of D-125, a cleaning solution made used in industries from health care to poultry farming. <br/>
More than 25,000 Cathay Pacific Airways staff have agreed to take unpaid leave, according to an internal memo from CE Augustus Tang, in which he thanked employees for their support as the airline contends with the impact of the coronavirus. The CE said Cathay’s business challenges “remain acute”. The airline has about 33,000 employees worldwide, with nearly 20,000 in Hong Kong. Cathay has sharply cut its flight capacity because of the impact the virus has had on travel, presenting a fresh challenge after the protests in Hong Kong weighed on the company’s performance in the second-half of 2019. Chief customer and commercial officer Ronald Lam said last week that financial results in this first 6 months of this year will be “significantly down” from a year earlier. <br/>