Update 10:13, Thursday January 30: Carriers including Lufthansa, KLM, United, Delta and Finnair have all suspended some or all flights to mainland China. See updates here
British Airways has temporarily suspended its flights to mainland China, following UK Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to the country.
In a statement on its website BA said:
“Following Foreign Office advice against all but essential travel to mainland China we have temporarily suspended our flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai with immediate effect, until Friday January 31, while we assess the situation.
“Flights to and from Hong Kong remain unaffected.
“This situation will remain under review and we will continue to provide regular updates.”
Several media outlets are reporting that while BA has officially only cancelled flights up until January 31, bookings for China routes (exclusing Hong Kong) have been blocked out on the carrier’s reservation systems until March.
Earlier this week BA began offering its customers the option of postponing or refunding flights to China (including Hong Kong), as the number of reported cases of coronavirus continues to rise.
There have so far been over 100 deaths from the outbreak of the respiratory virus, with nearly 6,000 confirmed cases.
