In France, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommends that French nationals should postpone all non-urgent travel to ChinaWhich airlines are still flying to the world's second largest economy? They are now more than 30 airlines which have suspended their services to the People's Republic. In that week alone, the consultant OAG Aviation Worldwide counted more than 25,000 flights cancelled.
The latest example is the United Arab Emirates said on Monday that they too were suspending all flights to mainland China, cutting off the major hubs of Abu Dhabi and Dubai from the Europe/China markets. Qatar Airways did the same on Monday.
Only a handful of Chinese airlines and Asian carriers continue to link China to the rest of the world, particularly to French-speaking Europe.
– Air China has suspended its Paris CDG-Chengdu route and has just reduced its Beijing-Geneva route from three weekly frequencies to two flights a week.
– China Eastern has suspended its flights from Paris CDG to Kunming and Quingdao. The carrier has reduced its flights between CDG and Shanghai Pudong from 14 to 10 weekly frequencies until the end of March.
– China Southern has reduced the Paris CDG-Canton (Guangzhou) route from one daily flight to four weekly flights by cancelling its Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday frequencies. Most international routes to Wuhan have been suspended until mid-June.
– Hainan Airlines suspended its Paris CDG-Chongqing, Paris CDG-Xian and Brussels-Shenzhen. It reduces the number of weekly frequencies between Brussels and Beijing Capital from four to three.
From Hong Kong, Cathay Pacific continues to operate flights to Europe, including Paris CDG and Brussels. However, from March 1, the airline will only accept passengers booked in J/W and Y class on flights to the Belgian capital every Monday.
To mainland China, the company and its subsidiary Cathay Dragon continue to serve Beijing and Shanghai with 5 to 7 daily flights. Cathay Dragon still operates flights to Changsha, Chengdu, Fuzhou, Guilin, Jinan, Kunming, Nanjing, Nanning, Qingdao, Xian, Xiamen and Zhengzhou. Frequencies vary from 1 to 4 weekly flights instead of an average of one to two daily flights. The regional carrier has completely suspended its services to Guangzhou, Haikou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Sanya, Wenzhou and since today to Chongqing.
From Taipei Taoyuan International Airport, Eva Air continues to fly with a reduced schedule to Beijing, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Harbin, Qingdao, Shanghai and Shenzhen.
For European airlines, the situation is particularly clear. LikeAir France which has suspended its flights between Paris-CDG and Beijing and Shanghai, all other carriers such as British Airways, Finnair, KLM, Lufthansa or SAS have temporarily closed all their routes to ChinaThe only major exception is the Russian carrier. The only major exception is the Russian carrier Aeroflotwhich continues to operate its flight schedule from Moscow to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. It is in fact the only airline able to operate routes to China, as Chinese carriers are currently no longer authorised to land in Russia.
