SIA cancels more flights; assesses impact of Trump's Europe travel ban

Singapore

SINGAPORE Airlines (SIA) is evaluating the impact of the US' Europe travel ban on its operations even as it announced further flight cuts on Thursday owing to tepid travel demand following the Covid-19 virus outbreak.

The latest wave of capacity reduction - which will temporarily remove 15.6 per cent of capacity from its network - affects flights to destinations such as Rome and China. Most of the capacity cuts last until May, although a handful of flights, such as to Christchurch and San Francisco, are affected in June as well.

"We will continue to monitor the situation, and be nimble and flexible in adjusting our capacity to match the changing demand patterns in the market," the airline said in a post on its Facebook page on Thursday afternoon.

While the World Health Organization has officially declared the Covid-19 outbreak a pandemic, the flight suspensions were in response to the weak demand seen across the airline's network over the past few weeks, an SIA spokeswoman said.

Meanwhile, on Thursday (Singapore time), US President Donald Trump announced restrictions on travel from 26 European countries to the US for 30 days.

The United Kingdom, however, is excluded from the travel ban. According to data analytics firm Global Data, the UK is the leading inbound source market of European visitors for the US last year, clocking 3.5 million arrivals.

Commenting on whether SIA would make further flight suspensions given the latest travel ban, the SIA spokeswoman added: "We are still assessing the impact of the announcement on our operations."

The airline group operates flights between Singapore and New York via Frankfurt, in addition to direct flights between Singapore and New York.

The European Union hit back later on Thursday by signalling their disapproval that the US had made the decision to impose the travel restrictions unilaterally and without consultation, CNN reported.

Shares in SIA shed 34 cents to close at S$7.34 on Thursday.