Travel analytics company, ForwardKeys, reveals that four fifths of flight capacity between China and the restof the world has been cut back due the global pandemic COVID-19.
In response to emergency governmentregulations, seat cancellations began in early February and by the third weekof the month, only 20% of seats remained in service.
Looking at the different regions of theworld, Asia has experienced the greatest impact in terms of the total number ofseats lost, at around 5.4 million in March. In percentage terms, travel toNorth America is worst affected: American, United, Delta, and Air Canadacanceled all their flights to mainland China; and Chinese carriers cut theircapacity by 70%. Between China and Europe, over 2,500 flights have been eliminated inMarch. The three major Chinese carriers cut capacity by 69%; while BA,Lufthansa and Finnair ceased their services completely. Qantas and Air NewZealand also stopped flying to China, which left only about 200 flights inMarch to Oceania, provided by Chinese airlines. Capacity between China and theMiddle East & Africa is also substantially down but less in both percentageand absolute numbers. Most flight suspensions are currently due to remain inforce until 28th March, the end of the winter season.
According to China’s Civil AviationAuthority, during the third week of March, 72 destinations in 38 countries haddirect air links to China, which is around a third of the pre-crisislevel.
Olivier Ponti, VP Insights, ForwardKeys shares, “At the start of the year, we were looking at another year of healthy growth inair travel from China. But now, we are witnessing the grounding of aircraft onan unprecedented scale. The loss in seats is more than the entire outboundmarket from the five Nordic countries combined.”
