Transavia cancels some flights to Italy as coronavirus saps demand

Dutch budget airline Transavia said it would eliminate several flights to Italy from mid-March through April because of the coronavirus outbreak there. The spread of the new viral strain, linked to Covid-19, has resulted in decreased passenger demand to the European country, the airline stated.

“This means that we will temporarily fly fewer flights to Verona, Pisa, Bari, Bologna and Naples,” the airline stated. “The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not issued a negative travel advice for our destinations in Italy as they are not in the area that was closed by the Italian government.”

The airline said more cancellations are possible pending developments. So far 22 departures and 22 returning flights were scrapped. 

The reduced schedule will begin on March 17 and will continue at least until April 30. Affected passengers will be notified by the airline and will be able to either “rebook their ticket free of charge to a later time or reclaim their money.”

A spokesperson for Transavia told NL Times the cancellation represent about ten percent of their flights to these destinations for this period.

Italy was still the European Union country hardest hit by coronavirus, with 1,835 confirmed cases and 52 fatalities, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (eCDC). The country represents nearly 75 percent of all of Europe’s confirmed cases, and nearly all of the EU’s 55 deaths as a result of Covid-19.

Patients who tested positive in the Netherlands are also on the rise, with 24 people being treated there. Globally, the eCDC said there were 90,663 known carriers of coronavirus, and 3,124 people have died from symptoms linked to Covid-19.