In an extraordinary week for carriers that service Europe, Turkish Airlines has announced that it has suspended routes to nine destinations across the continent due to coronavirus. Altogether, flights to Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Netherlands will be halted until April 17th.

The official announcement

The carrier announced that these measures have been put in place as part of the impact that the spread of COVID-19 is having.

Turkish Airlines displayed the following statement on its website:

"Our flights with Germany, France, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Austria and Holland as departure point are suspended (until) April 17, 2020. You can obtain the most up-to-date information regarding your flights from our flight status page using your flight number or route."

Procedures in place

The airline shared that passengers who have tickets booked to these destinations between March 14th April 17th will be able to make reservation changes free of charge if the new flight takes place by May 31st.

Additionally, refunds will be issued for any unused tickets. For any partially used tickets, where the trip has not been completed, passengers will be provided with route changes where possible. Alternatively, they will receive refunds for the unused part of the ticket.

Furthermore, passengers with canceled flights can change their tickets for free via the company's website, app, sales offices and call centers. They can also consult the agency from which they purchased the ticket.

Ongoing issues

Turkish Airlines is yet another carrier that has been forced to make changes to its schedule amid the outbreak. In addition to these destinations, the firm has also suspended operations to nine other regions. The following services have all been suspended for at least the majority of this month:

• Mainland China
• Iran
• Iraq
• Italy
• South Korea
• Nakhchivan
• Saudi Arabia
• Mongolia
• Israel

In fact, Turkish Airlines may have to wait to fly its incoming Airbus A350 aircraft, which recently made its maiden flight. Drops in demand and the imposition of new governmental policies have meant that operators have had to make drastic changes throughout their services.

All together there are currently over 69,000 confirmed active cases of novel coronavirus across the globe at the time of writing. Moreover, European authorities are currently scrambling to find the best way to tackle the issue. With several countries implementing different solutions to handle the ongoing outbreak, there is likely to be further changes to airline schedules in the coming months.

What are your thoughts on how airlines are continuing to be severely impacted by the outbreak of coronavirus? Are you one of the passengers affected by the changes? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.

Simple Flying reached out to Turkish Airlines for comment on the flight amendments. We will update the article with any further announcements.