Thousands of flights have been cancelled worldwide as airlines struggle to cope with a slump in demand caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
Ryanair will stop services to and from Italy from Friday until 8 April, with BA scrapping its routes until 4 April as the country goes into lockdown, reports BBC.
EasyJet has cancelled all of its flights to and from Italy between 10 March and 3 April.
It has said it will operate “rescue flights” in the coming days.
Norwegian Air has also said it will cut about 3,000 flights in the next three months, about 15% of its capacity.
It also plans to temporarily lay off “a significant share” of its workforce.
“We have initiated formal consultations with our unions regarding temporary layoffs for flying crew members as well as employees on the ground and in the offices,” said chief executive Jacob Schram.
While the restrictions on travel to Italy and China have meant some services have stopped completely, there has also been a general fall in demand as holiday-makers put their plans on hold and firms instruct staff to limit travel.
Earlier on Tuesday, Korean Air warned the coronavirus outbreak could threaten its survival.
In a memo sent to employees, Korean Air’s president Woo Kee-hong said the airline could not predict how long the crisis would last.
“But if the situation continues for a longer period, we may reach the threshold where we cannot guarantee the company’s survival,” he said in the memo, which was seen by Reuters news agency.
Australia’s Qantas airline has said it will reduce international flights by nearly 25% as it sees demand fall from passengers worried about coronavirus.
Qantas and its budget airline Jetstar will reduce operations for the next six months.
ACI Europe, which represents European airports, said its “initial assessment” was that passenger numbers between January and March would drop 14% due to the coronavirus.
“The Covid-19 epidemic is turning into a shock of unprecedented proportions for our industry,” said director general Olivier Jankovec.
Aviation consultant John Strickland said how hard an airline will be hit depends on two things: “Firstly, its exposure to affected markets such as China or Italy.”
“Secondly, as we saw with Flybe, some airlines, particularly smaller ones, can bleed through money quite quickly. Although they’ve cancelled flights, they aren’t making up those revenues because of falling customer demand.”
Mr Strickland added that governments “often give warm words” about the aviation industry, but said “now is the time to act”.
