Coronavirus: Qantas and Jetstar cut Asia flights, including to Hong Kong, Singapore

Australian airline Qantas on Thursday announced a major reduction in flights to Asia as the coronavirus outbreak affects demand and eats into profits. The carrier said it would cut flights to Asia by 16 per cent for at least three months, with flights to Shanghai suspended and those to Hong Kong reduced by two-fifths. Its Hong Kong to Sydney service will be cut by half, while daily services to Brisbane and Melbourne will be pared back to four and five times a week, respectively. Flights to Singapore will also be cut and the airline’s low-cost brand, Jetstar, will likewise reduce its Asia flights by 14 per cent until the end of May, affecting routes to Japan, Thailand and mainland China. This is an evolving situation that we’re monitoring closely. We know demand into Asia will rebound. Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO The move comes after Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific cut back its schedules by 40 per cent up to the end of March and asked all 27,000 staff to take three weeks of unpaid leave. Singapore Airlines has also made widespread cuts, though not to the same extent, cutting 670 flights across its network until the end of May. The novel coronavirus, which causes a pneumonia-like disease known as Covid-19, has infected at least 75,000 people and killed more than 2,100 since late December, almost all of them in China. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce said the outbreak had led to a drop in demand for flights across the region and was expected to hit the company’s profits by up to A$150 million (US$100 million) in the 2020 financial year. Joyce said the company would ground the equivalent of 18 aircraft in response to the crisis, and staff would be encouraged to take annual leave during the period. “We can extend how long the cuts are in place, we can deepen them or we can add seats back in if the demand is there. This is an evolving situation that we’re monitoring closely,” he said. “We know demand into Asia will rebound. And we’ll be ready to ramp back up when it does.” The company also plans to make small cuts to its domestic and New Zealand routes in response to lower demand. Amid the fallout from the outbreak, China’s air travel market has shrunk from being the third largest in the world to the 25th, just behind Portugal. The country’s domestic air travel market has seen capacity slashed by 70 per cent, with 10.4 million seats removed, according to OAG Aviation. Coronavirus: Beijing urges Australia to lift China travel ban All foreign pilots at major Chinese carriers including China Southern Airlines and the troubled Hainan Airlines have been put on unpaid leave, the Post previously reported – potentially opening up a vast pool of talent for Qantas to poach as it battles its unionised pilots over the launch of 20-hour ultra long-haul flights dubbed Project Sunrise. “In the last 24 hours I’ve had a letter from a captain from China Southern who says he’s been laid off on recent issues there,” Joyce, the Qantas CEO, said on a conference call. “He can get hundreds of captains from China and Asia to operate Project Sunrise if we want to and has volunteered to set up a company to do that for us, so there is no shortage of pilots for us.” Meanwhile, more than 150 Australians on Thursday arrived home to begin two weeks of quarantine after finally disembarking the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, where more than 600 people have contracted the new coronavirus. The cruise ship, owned by Carnival Corp, has been quarantined at Yokohama near Tokyo since February 3, initially with 3,700 people aboard, including 220 Australian holidaymakers. Coronavirus: 79 more cases aboard Diamond Princess as quarantine ends The Qantas Airways plane chartered to evacuate the Australians arrived at Darwin shortly before 10am, television footage showed. The exact number of Australians on board is not known. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said 169 Australians had asked for evacuation, though those holidaymakers would need to be symptom-free when checked by Japanese health officials before boarding the plane. Morrison will meet with Australia’s National Security Committee later on Thursday to discuss whether to extend a ban on the arrival of foreigners from mainland China, two sources told Reuters. Australia has prevented anyone but citizens and permanent residents from entering the country directly from mainland China since February 1, citing a need to stop the spread of the coronavirus that emerged from Wuhan city late last year. The restrictions were criticised on Monday by China’s ambassador to Australia, who described them as “harsh” and an “overreaction”. Stranded Chinese students eye third country route to get back to Australia Morrison has said Canberra would be guided by advice from medical experts, despite growing pressure on the Australian economy. China is Australia’s largest trading partner and a major source of tourists and fee-paying students. Australia’s top central banker this month said the coronavirus epidemic could shave 0.2 percentage points off Australia’s economic growth in the first quarter of this year. Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse, Reuters