United Airlines on Friday said it's cancelling all flights to and from China starting February 6 because the coronavirus crisis within the world’s most populous nation worsens by the hour.
United said it'll still operate one daily flight between San Francisco International Airport (SFO) and Hong Kong (HKG). Hong Kong sits on an island connected by bridge to China.
All United reservations scheduled daily flights to Beijing (PEK), Shanghai (PVG) and Chengdu, China (CTU), will cease operating as of Feb. 6.
United Airlines said it plans to resume service to China on March 28. But because the airline has stated repeatedly in recent days, the Chicago-based-carrier continues to watch developments closely which planned March 28 date could change.
[caption class="snax-figure" align="aligncenter" width="662"][/caption]
United’s decision to cancel hundreds of more flights comes hours after both American Airlines (NASDAQ: AAL) and Delta Air Lines (NYSE: DAL) also cancelled all flights to China. AA’s cancellations run through March 27, while Delta’s cancellation runs through April 30.
United Airlines said the choice to cancel weeks of flights came as demand for visit China “continued to drop.” The move also comes after the U.S. Department of State Thursday night raised its China travel advisory to Level 4, meaning it recommends U.S. citizens not visit China in the least.
United Airlines is the biggest U.S. airline in China
The huge cut in China service may be a particularly big blow to United because it is that the U.S.-based carrier with the foremost flights to China.
United had moved aggressively in recent years to extend its presence in China. United has been competing with a growing pool of Chinese carriers looking to urge a share of an outsized pool of travelling Chinese — that's until the coronavirus became big news and a serious headache for the airline industry.
[caption class="snax-figure" align="aligncenter" width="662"][/caption]
A spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA) on Friday said the quite 25,000 United flight attendants have a provision in their contract with United which will give them compensation for flights scheduled through February that they were alleged to work, but that is now cancelled.
Because United flight attendants had not signed up yet to figure flights in March, the contract pay provisions will haven't any effect on their work schedule or buy that month.
Meanwhile, United reservations are ramping up efforts to handle the rapidly worsening coronavirus crisis. The carrier’s internal pandemic response team is meeting several times daily to debate measures the carrier is taking to affect the crisis, consistent with sources on the brink of the carrier.
As of Friday more, quite 200 deaths had been attributed to the coronavirus, with quite 9,800 cases confirmed thus far.
United Airlines reservations may be a unit of United Airlines Holdings (NASDAQ: UAL). United stock closed down $2.95 a share on Friday to end the day at $74.80, rich its 52-week high of $96.03 per share.
Sign in to leave a comment.