Coronavirus: SIA cancels 15 flights to NZ due to reduced demand

Singapore Airlines has cancelled 15 flights into Christchurch and Wellington due to reduced demand resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. Airlines including Air New Zealand, Korean Air and China Southern have suspended routes to New Zealand and many other services have been drastically scaled back. Singapore Airlines spokesman Karl Schubert said in response to the fall in demand for air travel across the globe, as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, it had reduced its capacity on a number of routes. In New Zealand, Singapore Airlines had cancelled eight flights between Christchurch and Singapore between April and June, as well as seven flights between Wellington and Singapore during the same period. Singapore flies Christchurch to Singapore daily and Wellington to Melbourne five times a week. Both routes are serviced with Airbus A350s. "We will continue to monitor the situation, and be nimble and flexible in adjusting our capacity to match the changing demand patterns in the market," Schubert said. Air New Zealand has reduced total capacity by 10% and suspended services from Auckland to Shanghai and South Korea and reduced services between Auckland and Samoa, Hong Kong, Fiji, Rarotonga, Singapore, Taipei, Tokyo and Tonga.<br/>