Coronavirus: British Airways suspends flights to mainland China for a month
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Shares in British Airways owner IAG dropped 3.65 per cent after the airline announced it was suspending all flights to mainland China for a month amid the coronavirus outbreak.
It follows the airline’s announcement yesterday that it would halt flights for two days because of Foreign Office advice to avoid “all but essential travel”.
Direct flights between Beijing and Shanghai up to and including 29 February will be cancelled. Flights to and from Hong Kong are unaffected.
“We have cancelled flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai up to and including 29 February, 2020, following the FCO advice against all but essential travel”, a BA spokesperson said.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do and we will keep the situation under review.”
BA said it was contacting customers on cancelled flights to discuss travel options, “including rebooking onto other carriers where possible, full refunds or booking with BA for a later date of travel.”
Customers can also find the latest information on BA’s website.
Air France has also announced that it will suspend all flights to mainland China until 9 February.
The death toll from the coronavirus outbreak has risen to 170, and a confirmed case in Tibet means it has now reached every region in China.
Chinese authorities confirmed there are 7,711 cases in the country, surpassing the Sars epidemic.
The UK has been forced to postpone the evacuation of nearly 200 British nationals from Wuhan because it has not been granted the right permissions to leave by authorities.
A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We are doing everything we can to get British people in Wuhan safely back to the UK.”
“A number of countries’ flights have been unable to take off as planned. We continue working urgently to organise a flight to the UK as soon as possible.”
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab confirmed today that the evacuations of citizens will begin on Friday.