BA and Ryanair cancel flights to and from Italy amid coronavirus outbreak

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British Airways and Ryanair have cancelled flights to and from Italy.

BA said it would not be running any flights scheduled for today while Ryanair will stop all flights from Saturday until April 9.

It comes after Italy was placed under lockdown amid the coronavirus outbreak.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has advised against all but essential travel to the entire country.

Italy: Coronavirus - In pictures

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A BA spokeswoman told the Standard: "In light of the Italian Government's announcement and the UK Government's official travel advice, we have contacted all customers who are due to travel today."

They added that anyone booked to go to Italy between now and April 4 has alternate options due to the situation.

"We have updated our policy to give customers more options and flexibility. Any travellers due to fly to or from Italy between now and April 4 can rebook to a later date up until the end of May, move their destination to Geneva or Zurich or receive a full refund," she said.

"We recommend that any travellers continue to check their booking on ba.com for the latest information and ensure their contact details are up-to-date in the Manage My Booking section of the website."

Ryanair also announced on Tuesday that it has cancelled all international flights to and from Italy from Saturday until April 9.

Passengers who need to return home can switch to one of the flights operating up to the end of the day on Friday.

A Ryanair spokesman said: “Ryanair apologises sincerely to all customers for these schedule disruptions, which are caused by national government restrictions and the latest decision of the Italian government to lock down the entire country to combat the Covid-19 virus.”

The Government advice for anyone returning to the UK from Italy in the last 14 days is to stay indoors and avoid contact with other people. This advice applies even if they do not have symptoms of the coronavirus.

Approximately three million British nationals visit Italy every year.

EasyJet has also cancelled the majority of its flights to and from Milan, Venice and Verona after the whole of Italy was placed under lockdown until next month to tackle coronavirus.

Customers will have the opportunity to rebook or get a refund, it said on Tuesday.

Travel trade organisation Abta said “it is too early” to say that summer holidays cannot go ahead as planned, adding: "If you cancel early you may have to pay cancellation charges."

Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic has admitted flying planes that are “almost empty”.

This is in order to keep take-off and landing slots despite demand plummeting due to the coronavirus.

Chief executive Shai Weiss said the airline is being “forced” to continue with flights due to rules about slot allocation have not been relaxed.

Listen to today's episode of The Leader podcast:

Slots at capacity-constrained airports such as Heathrow can be worth millions of pounds and the European Union operates a so-called “use it or lose it” rule.

This means airlines must use 80 per cent of their slots or risk them being taken away in the following year.

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