- The global spread of coronavirus is affecting air routes between the US and countries beyond China.
- Delta Air Lines became the first airline to suspend a route between the US and a city not in China with Hawaiian Airlines following soon after.
- Foreign airlines are beginning to reduce US service as well, with Singapore Airlines scaling back flights to the states.
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Airlines were quick to suspend flights to mainland China following the outbreak of the deadly new coronavirus reacting to reduced demand and hoping to help prevent its spread.
Some airlines even went as far as to cutting service to Chinese territories outside of the mainland including Hong Kong and Macau.
With most foreign airlines divested from China for now, airlines are now taking a look at where the virus has spread outside of China to determine which routes are vulnerable and require temporary suspension.
Air routes between the US and foreign countries outside of China are beginning to be affected. Delta Air Lines and Hawaiian Airlines became the first two US-flagged carriers to cut service on routes that don’t touch Chinese territory, with foreign carriers beginning to scale back US service as well.
Take a look at which airlines and routes are affected.
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines was the first US airline to suspend an international route to Asia outside of China when it announced service would be suspended between Minneapolis and Seoul until the end of April on Wednesday. The move came as South Korea saw a rapid increase in the number of coronavirus cases being reported and many foreign carriers began suspending service to the country.
Delta still operates flights to Seoul from its other US gateways including Atlanta, Seattle, and Detroit, but will do so five times weekly until April 30. The airline also had planned to launch service between Manila, Philippines, and Seoul at the end of March but is pushing that until May.
Hawaiian Airlines
Hawaiian Airlines became the second US-flagged airline to suspend service to Asia following the spread of coronavirus outside of China. The airline is temporarily suspending its Honolulu-Seoul route from March 2 until the end of April.
The Honolulu-Seoul route is one of the most popular links between Hawaii and Asia, with numerous carriers competing for customers. Hawaiian Airlines is the only US airline to offer service on it, competing against Korea's top carriers among others.
Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines reduced frequency to a number of US destinations as part of a network-wide reduction in service due to the spread of coronavirus and weakened demand for travel to Asia.
Among those routes affected include Singapore-Los Angeles, Singapore-New York via Frankfurt, Singapore-San Francisco, Hong Kong-San Francisco, and Singapore-Seattle. The airline's iconic route between Singapore and Newark has not been affected.