More airlines are cancelling flights to China amid the deadly coronavirus outbreak that has killed 170 people.
KLM is slashing direct flights to a number of Chinese cities, including Chengdu, Hangzhou and Xiamen. The Netherlands flag carrier will also reduce the number of weekly flights to Shanghai from 11 to 7 times a week until 29 February.
KLM said it was axing flights based on “the decline in bookings”, rather than fears over the development of the flu-like virus.
Download the new Independent Premium app
Sharing the full story, not just the headlines
Download now
Delta is set to halve its US-China flights from 6 February until the end of April.
Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines have suspended flights to mainland China until 9 February. The German carrier said it would halt sales of flights to mainland China until 29 February.
left
Created with Sketch.
right
Created with Sketch.
1/65
Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world
AFP via Getty
2/65
A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP/Getty
3/65
People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS
Chinatopix via AP
4/65
Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown
Getty
5/65
Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far
AFP via Getty
6/65 An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers
China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans
AFP via Getty
7/65
Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh
AFP via Getty Images
8/65
Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan
EPA
9/65
A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang
AFP via Getty
10/65
Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
AFP via Getty Images
11/65
Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
12/65
Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon
AFP via Getty Images
13/65
Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province
AFP via Getty
14/65
Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL
AFP via Getty
15/65
Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan
EPA
16/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou
AFP via Getty
17/65
Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
18/65
A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel
EPA
19/65
An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar
AFP via Getty
20/65
Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
21/65
An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
22/65 Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
23/65
Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong
AFP via Getty
24/65
Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
25/65
A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
EPA
26/65
A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing
AP
27/65
Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
28/65
A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan
AP
29/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
30/65
Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
31/65
A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced
AFP via Getty Images
32/65
Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan
STR/AFP via Getty
33/65
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
34/65 Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China
China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries
AFP via Getty
35/65
A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan
EPA
36/65
Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan
EPA
37/65
Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
38/65
A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus
AFP via Getty
39/65 Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
40/65
Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China
AFP via Getty
41/65
Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
42/65
Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
43/65 A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
44/65
A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
45/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
46/65
Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
AP
47/65
A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
48/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province
AFP via Getty
49/65
Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
50/65
maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
51/65
A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
52/65
Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
53/65
Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
54/65
A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou
AFP via Getty Images
55/65
A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
56/65
Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
57/65
Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
58/65
An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul
EPA
59/65
Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
60/65
Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
61/65
The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
62/65
A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
63/65
Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong
AP
64/65
A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
65/65
A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
1/65
Medical staff members wearing protective clothing to help stop the spread of a deadly virus which began in the city of Wuhan, arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital. The Chinese army deployed medical specialists to the epicentre of the spiralling viral outbreak that has killed and spread around the world
AFP via Getty
2/65
A patient assisted by medical staff gets off an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP/Getty
3/65
People line up to buy face masks from a medical supply company in Nanning, southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Countries began evacuating their citizens from the Chinese city hardest-hit by a new virus that has now infected more people in China than were sickened in the country by SARS
Chinatopix via AP
4/65
Millions spent their normally festive Lunar New Year holiday under lockdown
Getty
5/65
Children with face masks wash their hands before prayer at Erawan shrine in Bangkok. Thailand has detected eight Coronavirus cases so far
AFP via Getty
6/65 An Indonesian health officer points at the screen of a thermal scanner for passengers
China confirmed that the deadly Wuhan coronavirus virus can be transmitted between humans
AFP via Getty
7/65
Hospital workers wearing protective eyewear and masks examine an Indonesian student who returned from China in quarantine at a hospital in Banda Aceh
AFP via Getty Images
8/65
Ambulance staff dispose of an outfit at the hospital in Wuhan
EPA
9/65
A person checks the temperature of a passenger to help stop the spread of a deadly virus as he arrives at the Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International airport in Palembang
AFP via Getty
10/65
Nepali students, wearing face masks, attend a class at Matribhumi School in Bhaktapur, on the outskirts of Kathmandu
AFP via Getty Images
11/65
Medical staff at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
12/65
Two Buddhist monks wear face masks while walking along a street in Yangon
AFP via Getty Images
13/65
Staff disinfecting a residential area in Ruichang, part of Jiujiang in China's central Jiangxi province
AFP via Getty
14/65
Workers are seen at the construction site of a new hospital being built to treat patients from a deadly virus outbreak in Wuhan in China's central Hubei province on January 27, 2020. - China is rushing to build a new hospital in a staggering 10 days to treat patients at the epicentre of a deadly virus outbreak that has stricken thousands of people, state media reported on January 24. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP) (Photo by HECTOR RETAMAL/AFP via Getty Images) HECTOR RETAMAL
AFP via Getty
15/65
Vapor blurs the goggles of an ambulance driver while they work, in Wuhan
EPA
16/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Yangzhou
AFP via Getty
17/65
Medical staff getting on an ambulance in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
18/65
A vendor of traditional masks wears a facial mask at his shop in Thamel
EPA
19/65
An airport official checks the temperature of a passenger upon his arrival at the Bacha Khan International Airport in Peshawar
AFP via Getty
20/65
Medical staff members arrive with a patient at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
21/65
An ambulance driver talking with medical staff in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
22/65 Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team leave the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
The new coronavirus appears to have its origins in a seafood market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, a popular transport hub
AFP via Getty
23/65
Workers produce protective suits at a factory in Nantong
AFP via Getty
24/65
Passengers scanned by thermal imaging for body temperature as they go through health measures and procedures after they landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
25/65
A Thai royal guard wears a mask while on duty at the Grand Palace in Bangkok
EPA
26/65
A man wearing a face mask rides a nearly empty subway train in Beijing
AP
27/65
Medical staff members at the Wuhan Red Cross Hospital
AFP via Getty
28/65
A shopper wearing goggles with a face mask and gloves uses a self checkout machine at a supermarket in Wuhan
AP
29/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
30/65
Members of the Italian Red Cross putting on protective gear, getting ready to give health checks to passengers that landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport on a southern airlines flight from Wuhan
Aeroporto Di Roma/AFP via Getty
31/65
A member of the Hong Kong government's Civil Aid Service gestures at the entrance to the Lady MacLehose Holiday Village which is being used as one of two quarantine centres for people who have been in close proximity with suspected cases of a SARS-type virus. Hong Kong will turn two holiday camps, including a former military barracks, into quarantine zones for people who may have come into contact with carriers of the Wuhan virus, officials announced
AFP via Getty Images
32/65
Medical staff wearing protective suits at the Zhongnan hospital in Wuhan
STR/AFP via Getty
33/65
A Malaysia Health official checks passengers going through a thermal scanner upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
34/65 Staff disinfecting Yingtan North Railway Station, China
China banned trains and planes from leaving the major city at the centre of a virus outbreak on January 23, seeking to seal off its 11 million people to contain the contagious disease that has claimed lives and spread to other countries
AFP via Getty
35/65
A passenger walks past a quarantine control station at Narita airport, Japan
EPA
36/65
Patients queue up to seek treatment in Wuhan Tongji Hospital Fever Clinic, in Wuhan
EPA
37/65
Quarantine workers spray disinfectant at Incheon International Airport, South Korea
EPA
38/65
A member of staff checks the temperature of a guest entering the casino of the New Orient Landmark hotel in Macau, after it reported its first case of the new SARS-like virus
AFP via Getty
39/65 Medical staff transfer patients to Jin Yintan hospital
Little is known about the new disease which, if confirmed, would be only the seventh coronavirus known to science that can infect humans
Getty
40/65
Members of the Three Gorges Medical Laboratory offering free masks to the public in Yichang, China
AFP via Getty
41/65
Gabriel Leung, right, chair professor of public health medicine at the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong, speaks about the extent of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China
AFP via Getty
42/65
Members of staff of the Wuhan Hygiene Emergency Response Team conducting searches on the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
AFP via Getty
43/65 A quarantine officer at Incheon International Airport, South Korea, uses an electronic thermometer to check the temperature of passengers arriving by plane from Wuhan
The virus causes symptoms of viral pneumonia, and has already led to several deaths
EPA
44/65
A screen shows cancelled flights at Tianhe airport in Wuhan
AFP via Getty
45/65
Medical staff transfer patients to Jinyintan hospital
EPA
46/65
Health officials hand out information about the current coronavirus at Kuala Lumpur International Airport
AP
47/65
A store owner argues with security guards as he attempts to enter the closed Huanan wholesale seafood market
AFP via Getty
48/65
Workers producing facemasks at a factory in Handan, China's northern Hebei province
AFP via Getty
49/65
Medical staff and security personnel stop patients' family members from being too close to the Jinyintan hospital
Reuters
50/65
maya-goodfellowAn airport staff member uses a temperature gun to check people leaving Wuhan Tianhe International Airport
AP
51/65
A rescue worker walks past a notice about new coronavirus that has broken out in China
Reuters
52/65
Health officials wear face masks at an inspection site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang
AP
53/65
Medical staff members carry a patient into the Jinyintan hospital
AFP via Getty
54/65
A staff member checks body temperature of a child after a train from Wuhan arrived at Hangzhou Railway Station in Hangzhou
AFP via Getty Images
55/65
A quarantine station measures passenger body temperatures at Narita Airport
JIJI PRESS/AFP via Getty
56/65
Passengers walk past a notice displayed near a quarantine control station at Narita airport
EPA
57/65
Passengers walk past a poster alerting on coronavirus screening ahead upon their arrival at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport
EPA
58/65
An employee sprays disinfectant on a train, as a precaution against coronavirus, at Suseo Station in Seoul
EPA
59/65
Kazakh sanitary-epidemiological service worker uses a thermal scanner to detect travellers from China who may have symptoms possibly connected with the previously unknown coronavirus, at Almaty International Airport, Kazakhstan
Reuters
60/65
Pharmacist Liu Zhuzhen stands near a sign reading "face masks are sold out" at her pharmacy in Shanghai
AP
61/65
The Wuhan Medical Treatment Center,
EPA
62/65
A worker in a protective suit at the closed seafood market in Wuhan
Reuters
63/65
Passengers wear protective face masks at the departure hall of a high speed train station in Hong Kong
AP
64/65
A notice for passengers from Wuhan
Getty
65/65
A man wears a mask while riding on mobike past the closed Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market
Getty
Iberia, which is part of the IAG airlines group alongside British Airways , has cancelled services from Madrid to Shanghai – its only direct flight to mainland China.
Korean Air is reducing the number of flights between its South Korean hubs and mainland China.
The airlines follow British Airways, which yesterday announced it would suspend all direct flights to and from mainland China amid the coronavirus outbreak, and has now extended the cancellation up to and including 29 February. The UK’s flag carrier usually operates daily flights from Heathrow Airport to Shanghai and Beijing.
The airline said: “We are contacting customers on cancelled flights so we can discuss their travel options, including re-booking onto other carriers where possible, full refunds or booking with BA for a later date of travel.
"Customers can also find the latest information and options on BA.com.
“Safety is at the heart of everything we do and we will keep the situation under review.”
Air Canada, Finnair, Jetstar Asia, Lion Air, Cathay Pacific and United are also among those who have cut services to mainland China.
Flights to Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, are unaffected in all cases.
Most carriers who are still flying to China have offered travellers the chance to change their flights free of charge.
Elsewhere, Virgin Atlantic has said its flights from the UK to Shanghai will continue as normal.
Meanwhile, Japanese carrier ANA said its bookings for outbound China flights had halved in February compared to last year, as the coronavirus takes hold.
Earlier this week, the UK’s Foreign Office advised against all but essential travel to mainland China .
A planned evacuation flight for UK citizens in Wuhan, the coronavirus epicentre, has been postponed . Around 200 passengers were due to land in the UK today at a military base, where they would be kept in quarantine for two weeks.
Read More