Flights have ground to a halt around the world, with several airlines now drastically reducing their active fleets as the coronavirus threatens to spread further still. Several countries have declared lockdown, barring flights from those still active airlines.
When can we fly again?
Many countries have now declared a lockdown due to the coronavirus in a bid to prevent cases accelerating further.
In most instances, countrywide lockdown bars commercial flights, with exemptions in rare cases.
Those countries which have not locked down may still receive fewer flights, as airlines reduce activity of their own accord.
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Current restrictions are not in place for the UK, so people can still fly to countries which haven’t got a warning from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) attached to them.
However, many airlines which serve the UK have drastically reduced their service.
Jet2 has cancelled all of its flights for another five weeks until April 31.
Ryanair has also reduced its service by 80 percent.
EasyJet has also followed suit with cancellations and will suspend the majority of its fleet from March 24.
They will operate on 10 percent capacity, and review their measures weekly.
Johan Lundgren, easyJet CEO, said the airline would continue to operate rescue flights for people stranded abroad.
He said: “These are unprecedented times for the airline industry.”
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“We know how important it is for customers to get home and so are continuing to operate rescue flights over the coming days to repatriate them.
“Significantly reducing our flying programme is the right thing to do when many countries have issued advice to their citizens not to travel unless it is essential.”
He added the aircraft groundings would “remove significant levels of variable costs at a time when this remains crucial”.
As the coronavirus pandemic worsens and more countries close their borders, potentially millions of people may be stranded abroad.
Flight suspensions have left potentially hundreds of thousands of Brits stuck abroad.
Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told the Commons’ Foreign Affairs Committee the pandemic has “close to a million” Brits stuck abroad without an avenue home.
Tourists in Peru and Morocco are amongst the worst affected, with travel bans and curfews in place to curb COVID-19.
Those in Peru were told a flight to London from Lima operated by Colombian airlines Avianca would set them back £2,600 to £3,000 this weekend.
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