ANA, JAL to Reduce China Flights amid Viral Spread

February 5, 2020

Tokyo- Subject to the suspension are flights that require crew members to stay overnight in China and those with falling demand.

The number of flights to be suspended will total 69 per week, with ANA seeing its number falling to 144 from 158 and JAL to 43 from 98, according to their announcements on Tuesday.

Beginning with flights leaving Japan next Monday, ANA will halt all seven weekly flights between Narita International Airport near Tokyo and Beijing, and reduce the number of flights linking Tokyo International Airport at Haneda and Beijing by half from 14. ANA will also extend the cancellation of flights between Narita and the Chinese city of Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, beyond the earlier announced end of this month.

From Feb. 17, JAL will suspend 21 weekly flights between Narita and Shanghai and halve the number of Haneda-Beijing flights to seven. It will use smaller aircraft for the reduced services.

Among other airlines, low-cost carrier Jetstar Japan had already decided to suspend Narita-Shanghai services.

Some foreign airlines, including Delta Airlines, have suspended all of their China-bound flights. Jiji Press