BERLIN (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th March, 2020) German airline Lufthansa has decided to reduce its flight capacity by up to 50 percent in the coming weeks given the increasing number of cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) across Europe and the world.
Last week, the company said it would reduce the number of its short- and medium-haul flights by 25 percent due to the epidemiological situation across the world.
"Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of Covid-19 and the resulting drastic decline in bookings as well as numerous flight cancellations Lufthansa Group decided to reduce the flight capacity on offer ... by up to 50 per cent in the coming weeks. These capacity adjustments apply to all passenger airlines in the Lufthansa Group," the company said in a press release.
Meanwhile, Russia's UTair airline has temporarily reduced its number of flights between Moscow and Italy's Milan due to the coronavirus outbreak in the European country.
"For the safety of passengers amid the spread of the coronavirus disease in Italy, UTair is temporarily reducing the number of flights from Moscow to Milan and vice versa. From March 6-17, the airline will leave 2 flights a week in the schedule: on Wednesdays and Sundays," the company said in a statement, offering passengers to reschedule their trips or a refund of ticket costs.
In addition, Argentina's largest airline, Aerolíneas Argentinas, will partially suspend air traffic with Rome in March over the spread of COVID-19 in Italy, reducing the total number of flights to the destination to three a week.
To date, the number of those infected globally has passed 100,000, with more than 3,400 fatalities. Meanwhile, over 55,400 people have recovered.
