Airlines are in a full blown ‘price war’ as Australians scrap their holidays in droves over coronavirus fears.
Extreme discounts are available on flights to destinations around the world as carriers desperately try to fill seats on increasingly empty planes.
The virus has infected more than 82,000 people and caused more than 2,800 deaths, mostly in China where the first emerged late last year.
Experts now fear it could become a pandemic as cases pop up in new countries every day and a vaccine is still not available.
Airlines are in a full blown ‘price war’ as Australians scrap their holidays in droves over coronavirus fears. Pictured are plight attendants wearing masks at Brisbane Airport
Travellers, wearing masks as a precautionary measure to avoid due to coronavirus, are seen at Salgado Filho airport in Porto Alegre, Brazil, where new cases have been reported
Qantas slashed flights to Asia in response to plummeting demand, grounded 18 planes, stood down 700 jobs, and expects to lose $150 million.
Virgin Australia similarly said coronavirus would cost it between $55 million and $75 million in the second half of the financial year.
However, airlines can’t cut too much capacity so great deals are being offered to fill as many empty seats as possible.
Even Bali is struggling to attract visitors to Australia’s most popular holiday escape with flights as low as $209 despite no confirmed cases.
‘We’ve decided to cancel, as if we were to get sick, the healthcare in Bali is just not equal to options at home,’ one holidaymaker wrote on social media.
‘It’s $400, so I’d rather lose that, than a life.’
Travellers wearing masks to protect themselves at Jorge Chavez International Airport, in Lima, Peru, as many more cancel their trips around the world
Tourists wearing face masks visit Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City after the Italian government declared a state of emergency over coronavirus
Another wrote: ‘Yes, we cancelled. Why risk your kids lives/health? I won’t be heading overseas until this situation plays out.’
Bali Airport said there were 40,000 hotel booking cancellations in recent weeks and in the first half of February visitors were down 16.25 per cent on last year.
‘Bali is very very quiet, haven’t seen Bali like this ever,’ one traveller who was on the island last week wrote.
Travel agencies are struggling too with Flight Centre admitting to investors its yearly earnings would be battered by $100 million.
Chief executive Graham Turner said airlines were locked in an ‘extraordinary price war’ as they scrambled to sell their vacant seats.
‘One thing for sure is once we know a bit more about the virus we will be aggressive in marketing what are perceived as safe destinations, such as New Zealand, South Pacific and the U.S.,’ he told investors on Wednesday.
But not even flights closer to home in comparatively ‘safe’ New Zealand are exempt with Qantas dropping some trans-Tasman fares to $119.
Air New Zealand went even further with flights in March costing just $69 on the Auckland-Melbourne leg and just $10 more for many others.
Flights across the ditch usually cost at least $240 when booked about a month in advance, as is the case with these flights.
Australians are so fearful of travelling at all that Qantas and Jetstar are cutting capacity on domestic routes by 2.3 per cent.
Jetstar in response offered fared as low as $29 on major routes in a desperate attempt to limit the damage.
One of the best deals is flights from the east coast of Australia to Los Angeles on Qantas at an unheard-of $564 return with similar prices for San Francisco.
Toronto and Vancouver can be visited for little over $900 on some airlines and Fiji Airways is running routes to its home nation for $526.
Asia, where the virus has far more cases, has been belted even harder with Qantas forced to cut 16 per cent of its capacity there and Jetstar 14 per cent.
Some routes had the number of flights cut by half and those that are running are often using smaller planes.
Virgin has canned its Hong Kong route altogether from Melbourne and will stop flying there from Sydney next week.
Outrageous deals are on sale as a result with flights that would usually go for hundreds down to double digits.
Air Asia launched a blitz sale to Malaysia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, and India with flights to its base in Kuala Lumpur going for just $89, and Brisbane to Bangkok for $103.
Coronavirus has killed more than 2,800 people globally and can cause severe lung damage and trigger multiple organ failure
Travellers said they feared not only catching coronavirus abroad, but being stuck overseas by travel bans and cancellations, or being forced into quarantine.
Lisa Van Der Westhuizen, from Sydney, cancelled her holiday with a friend to Japan after the government raised the alert level.
‘I just thought it seemed a little bit risky… and I’ve got young kids (and) one of them, in particular, gets asthma when he is sick,’ she told SBS.
‘In my mind, I was thinking there would be a chance it would escalate while I was over there and be impacted by a quarantine period on the way home.’
Australians who have already booked flights or are thinking of doing so should check with airlines and travel insurance companies to see their policies.
Many insurers are not covering coronavirus claims at all unless the flights were booked many months ago before the virus became a ‘known event’ on January 23.
Airlines and insurers also won’t pay you back if you just decide it’s too risky to travel somewhere, or at all, but if a country is added to the ‘do not travel’ list they may relent.
Policies marked ‘cancel for any reason’ exist but they are significantly more expensive than usual ones.
Travellers also need to be careful if they have a layover in Singapore, Hong Kong, or Malaysia as authorities will give everyone temperature checks and anyone with symptoms will be sent to hospital for quarantine.