KLM scraps a dozen flights to Italy today over coronavirus

KLM put a red line through twelve of its departures to Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak in the country. The Dutch airline will still fly to infected areas, but at a lower frequency, eliminating at least 25 percent of its flights to Italy this week through March 15th.

Usually, KLM flies to Italy 152 times a week, including 34 flights to Rome, 26 to Milan and 23 to Bologna. For Monday, 12 KLM flights to Italy are canceled, according to Schiphol's website, including five departures to Milan, three each to Rome and Venice, and one to Bologna.

On Sunday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs escalated its travel advice for parts of northern Italy to code red, completely advising against traveling to the area. The Italian government also decided to put the Lombardy region and 14 other provinces on lockdown to prevent the Covid-19 from spreading further. The cities of Milan and Venice are in the affected areas. 

The Italian airline Alitalia announced on Sunday that it is suspending flights from Milan-Malpensa airport from Monday, due to the government's decision to place the area on lockdown. Two round trips to Amsterdam are affected by the decision.

Meanwhile, Israeli airline El Al, was also expected to temporarily stop some flights to Europe over the coronavirus. The airline cancelled two departures from Amsterdam to Tel Aviv on Monday.

KLM previously canceled most of its flights to China, and waived all re-booking fees for the coming weeks due to the virus. Transavia previously announced that it is canceling some flights to Italy.