easyJet flights are being cancelled to and from Europe as coronavirus fears continue to ramp up. The grounded flights follow “a significant softening of demand and load factors into and out of” easyJet’s Northern Italian bases as well as “some slower demand” to other European destinations, said the airline. What flights are being cancelled and how will it affect your holidays?
An easyJet spokesperson told Express.co.uk: “We can confirm that we have taken the decision to cancel a number of flights mainly to and from Italy following a slowing in demand as a result of concerns over Covid-19.
“The cancellations are for some flights between 13 March and 31 March 2020, most of which have multiple daily frequencies.
“Customers are being contacted and moved onto flights operating on the same day or alternatively have been offered a full refund.
“Standard terms and conditions apply on all flights which are unaffected as they will be operating as normal.”
DON’T MISS
The carrier is urging easyJet passengers to check the status of their flights via the airline’s online flight tracker.
They have also said that affected passengers will be contacted directly in order to discuss options.
British Airways and Ryanair have also cancelled flight amid coronavirus concerns.
BA has axed a number of short-haul flights from the UK due to a drop in demand.
Popular holiday destinations have been affected including Italy, France and Germany.
The flight cancellations are set to take place this month and will affect hundreds of flights.
These will be merged between March 16 and March 28.
Ryanair also confirmed it will cut 25 percent of flights in and out of Italy between the dates of March 17 and April 8.
Rory Boland, editor of Which? Travel, shared his travel advice yesterday, saying: “While the decision to cancel flights in the face of growing concerns around the spread of coronavirus may be understandable, passengers due to travel will want to know what this means for their travel plans, especially in the run-up to the Easter holidays.
“BA and Ryanair must ensure they are keeping passengers informed and quickly rerouting them to their destinations on the next available flight, with other carriers if necessary.
“Given the circumstances, airlines should also consider offering flexibility to customers who don’t want to travel, such as allowing refunds and waiving flight change fees for both existing and future bookings.”
Travel expert Simon Calder has shared his advice for holidaymakers heading to the airport.
“It’s a microbiological party [at the airport],” Calder told Sky News, “everybody from around the world converges with their own personal germs and they all get mixed up, particularly at the security area.”
He continued: “At airports be really careful in terms of not getting too close to people.”
After security – especially if you’ve been handling the security trays that you put your liquids and phone in – “go and have a good old wash with proper soap and water because that’s probably the biggest danger you’re going to encounter in your entire, wonderful holiday,” he cautioned.
“Keep a distance from anyone who looks ill and if you can pay for food and drink with contactless rather than handling cash,” he advised.
