British Airways cancels ALL flights to and from Italy until April 4 amid coronavirus crisis
British Airways has today cancelled all flights to and from Italy until April 4 because of coronavirus.
The airline said it had axed its 60 flights a day to cities including Milan, Venice and Rome after the Government decided anyone arriving in the UK from the country must self-isolate for a fortnight afterwards.
Anyone who has booked to travel to or from the coronavirus-hit country can rebook at a later date or have a full refund.
BA has taken the extreme step as the Government changed its advice on travel to Italy last night after the country PM Giuseppe Conte put the country’s 60million people on lockdown as they lost their grip on the crisis as the death tolled jumped by 97 in one day to 463.
A spokesman said: ‘In light of the Italian Government’s announcement and the UK Government’s official travel advice, we have contacted all customers who are due to travel today.
‘We have updated our policy to give customers more options and flexibility. Any travellers due to fly to or from Italy between now and April 4 can rebook to a later date up until the end of May, move their destination to Geneva or Zurich or receive a full refund.
British Airways has cancelled all flights to and from Italy from today until April 4 to try to stop the flow of coronavirus across Europe (Heathrow T5 pictured)
These are the arrivals boards at Heathrow today and show that flights to Milan and Venice this afternoon will no longer happen
‘We recommend that any travellers continue to check their booking on ba.com for the latest information and ensure their contact details are up-to-date in the Manage My Booking section of the website’.
In the last week BA, Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair and easyJet have all cancelled more than 1,000 flights across Europe, the US and Asia due to a drop in demand and a sharp rise in passenger no-shows.
Flybe blamed their collapse on coronavirus last wee saying it a lack of bookings hastened their demise.
The International Air Transport Association has said that the world’s airlines could lose between $63billion and $113billion in revenues because of the coronavirus crisis.