Airlines across the globe have canceled or reduced flights to China as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Major European airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa led the way in terms of flight suspension to mainland China. In total, nearly 10,000 flights from, to, and within China have been canceled since January 23rd.

Coronavirus outbreak leads to thousands of flight cancellations

Data from Cirium indicates that nearly 10,000 flights have been canceled since January 23rd through January 28th. This includes flights to and from mainland China in addition to flights operating within China.

British Airways had to wet-lease an Airbus A340 to cover for aircraft affected by the Trent 1000 issues. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

The data gets even more staggering on a regional level. Between January 23rd and January 28th, 92% of scheduled flights in and out of Wuhan were canceled. In total, out of 2,606 scheduled flights to and from Wuhan, 2,406 did not fly. This is not counting the rescue flights which are unscheduled charters for evacuating specific citizens.

The data was a little better for China as a whole. Between January 23rd and 28th, 10.8% of scheduled flights to and from China did not fly. Or, in raw numbers, only 9,807 out of 90,607 flights did not take off.

The impact on Chinese airlines

Unsurprisingly, coronavirus flight cancellations have hit Chinese airlines the hardest. China Eastern canceled 1,591 flights across its domestic and international network. 1,529 of those were domestic services and 62 were international.

China Eastern
China Eastern saw 1,591 of its flights affected as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Photo: Tom Boon - Simple Flying

Just after China Eastern comes China Southern, but only by a hair. China Southern still canceled 1,510 flights. 1,425 of those were domestic while 85 were international flights. In fact, a China Southern Airbus A319 recently had to turn back from Myanmar due to concerns about an infected passenger. Moreover, Wuhan is an important city for China Southern with some high profile international routes to places like New York, Rome, San Francisco, and London. Currently, China Southern expects to resume major international service from Wuhan in March.

China Southern
China Southern also saw significant operational disruption as a result of this outbreak. Photo: Jay Singh - Simple Flying

Other highly affected airlines include Xiamen Airlines with 837 canceled services.

Airports did not leave unscathed

Domestic services have also taken some severe hits. While Wuhan was hit the hardest, Beijing's Capital Airport saw about 10% of its flights canceled – 920 out of 9,113 flights. Meanwhile, Guangzhou also saw about 10% of scheduled flights canceled – 829 out of 8,236.

Wuhan Coronavirus
A spike in cases caused by lifting travel restrictions has resulted in China grounding flights and introducing new restrictions. Photo: Getty

Overall

Simple Flying has closely monitored flight cancellations as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. You can find all the information at this post. Ultimately, the coronavirus has hugely disrupted one of the largest and most important air markets in the world. Airlines will be looking toward governments and health agencies around the world for guidance when it comes to restoring services to China. For now, however, governments are discouraging travel to China. And, flying into China is getting harder with flight cancellations.

Did you have plans to fly to China? Were your flights canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak? Let us know in the comments!