SINGAPORE: Singapore Airlines (SIA) and its regional wing SilkAir will suspend some flights to China after fears over the novel coronavirus outbreak affected demand "significantly", Singapore's national carrier said on Monday (Feb 10).
"Minimum connectivity" to several key cities will be maintained.
AdvertisementAdvertisementThe move comes after demand for air travel between Singapore and China declined significantly as a result of the outbreak, said SIA on its website.
As a result, services to some Chinese destinations will be "temporarily suspended until the situation improves", it added.
Several SIA flights between Singapore and Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou will be suspended between Feb 4 and Mar 29.
Some SilkAir flights between Singapore and Shenzhen, Xiamen, Chengdu and Chongqing will be halted during that period.
AdvertisementAdvertisementSIA said that the group will maintain some connectivity to key cities.
"There are still many Singaporeans working and living in China now, many of whom will still require connectivity between Singapore and China," said SIA.
"As the national carrier, we will continue to maintain minimum connectivity to the key cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chongqing for now despite the reduced demand," added SIA.
[h=3]READ: Singapore raises DORSCON level to Orange; schools to suspend inter-school, external activities[/h]SIA had said on Jan 31 said it would reduce capacity on some of its routes to China in February due to the growing scale of the coronavirus epidemic.
SIA's low-cost carrier Scoot also suspended flights to 11 Chinese cities from early February until the end of March and reduced frequencies to eight other Chinese destinations.
[h=3]READ: What you need to know about additional precautionary measures under DORSCON Orange[/h]Singapore on Friday raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) level to Orange, after several cases of coronavirus without travel history to mainland China or links to previous cases.
The virus has infected 43 people in Singapore as of Sunday, six of whom have been discharged.
[h=3]BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the Wuhan coronavirus and its developments[/h]Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the Wuhan virus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram
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