Airlines cut more flights in wake of travel ban to US from Europe

Airlines have axed more flights and demanded urgent government action to help offset the financial impact they are facing from the coronavirus outbreak, as they struggled to digest the impact of Donald Trump’s travel ban to the US from Europe. Shares in the crisis-hit sector tumbled further after the US said it would block foreign nationals arriving from the EU Schengen zone. Many lost about 15% of their value, and are now down more than 50% in the last three weeks. The US’s unilateral decision will affect 13,500 flights and 4 million passengers in the next four weeks, according to data from the aviation analysts OAG. The IATA warned that the move could see airlines go under and many would need emergency measures to survive. Norwegian, one of the carriers most exposed to the US ban, said it would ground 40% of its long-haul fleet and cancel 25% of short-haul flights until the end of May. It is also temporarily laying off half of its staff, across all departments. The airline employs 1,200 people in the UK alone. Lufthansa, the biggest EU-Schengen carrier to North America, said it would still fly some services to New York, Chicago and Washington, but would cut flights to all other US destinations from Europe from 14 March. Airlines for America said it commended the president’s decision from a public health perspective, but added: “This action will hit US airlines, their employees, travellers and the shipping public extremely hard.” Story has more details.<br/>