Airlines are continuing to adjust policies and schedules amid cratering demand as Covid-19 outbreak fears intensify.
In
a blog post, OAG analyst John Grant said the global hit to capacity so
far has been 11 per cent. Northeast Asia capacity has taken the biggest
hit, down 44.8 per cent as of 9 March compared with 20 Jan levels.
Korean
Air, for one, has seen more than 80 per cent of its international
capacity shut down, as South Korea has faced severe travel restrictions
from being an epicenter of one of the larger coronavirus outbreaks.
Reuters reported that Korean Air president Woo Kee-hong said in an internal memo
that 100 of 145 of its aircraft have been grounded, and he warned
employees that "if the situation continues for a longer period, we may
reach the threshold where we cannot guarantee the company's survival".
In
Europe to date, the Lufthansa Group has taken some of the most drastic
measures in terms of schedule reductions, with a capacity cut of as high
as 50 per cent underway in the coming weeks. The group said in a statement it "has been exposed to drastic declines in bookings and numerous
flight cancellations" due to the virus, and the capacity cut would
"reduce the financial consequences of the slump in demand".
In
Western Europe, total capacity has declined 5 per cent over the last
week, with the biggest drops in Italy and Germany, according to Grant.
The UK also lost 5 per cent in capacity last week, though much of that
stemmed from the collapse of Flybe.
Low-cost carrier Norwegian has announced it is preparing to
cancel around 3,000 flights between mid-March and mid-June – representing 15 per cent of its total capacity – and will also
implement temporary staff redundancies as it continues to try to mitigate the
impact of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Among US carriers, JetBlue has joined United Airlines in
announcing planned domestic capacity cuts. However, capacity in North
America has remained "broadly stable", with capacity as far out as 20 April still running largely close to what was filed earlier this year,
Grant said.
Carriers are continuing to adjust their change fee
policies as well. Delta Air Lines, for example, on Monday said it is now
waiving change fees on all international and domestic travel through 30 April regardless of when the ticket was issued, as well as for any
flight bought in the month of March. United, meanwhile, last weekend
changed its policy regarding schedule changes to increase the
involuntary refund threshold for schedule changes from two hours to 25
hours, meaning passengers might not get refunds if their flight is
changed within that threshold; however, it also has waived change fees
for any flight booked through the end of the month. United said that
most schedule changes will still allow passengers to be accommodated
within a few hours of their original flight even after the recent
reduction.
Emirates is waiving change fees for bookings made before 31 March and is also introducing flexibility to allow Emirates Skywards Platinum, Gold and Silver members to maintain their current status by fulfilling 80 per cent of their tier travel requirements until 30 June. It is also offering members who do book travel in this time period an additional 20 per cent bonus tier miles.
Amtrak has also begun making adjustments due to decreased business travel demand. It has suspended its three nonstop services between
New York and Washington through late May. In addition, Amtrak is
waiving change fees on any reservations through 30 April.