Novel Coronavirus outbreak: Vistara to cancel 54 flights in March, Air India, IndiGo suffer too

The Novel Coronavirus outbreak is giving airlines a run for their money in India.

National carrier Air India and private carrier IndiGo have already made several temporary shut-downs in various areas.

These cut-downs, which the airline terms as adjustments, are for Bangkok and Singapore sectors for the month of March.

After this adjustment, a total of 54 Vistara flights will be cancelled for the month of March.

20 flights will be cancelled between Delhi and Bangkok.

26 flights will be cancelled between Mumbai and Singapore.

8 flights will be cancelled between Delhi and Singapore.

According to airline representative, "The airline clarifies that there was no advisory or caution from the Singapore or Bangkok authorities.

Weak demand was the only reason why the management decided to take the call for certain adjustments."

"Passengers who have booked in advance can either get a full refund without any cancellation charges or book on a later date," an airline representative said.

As per the advisory of the government, passengers arriving from China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand...

...Singapore, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Nepal are being screened at the airports.

Global body has accessed, carriers in the Asia Pacific to incur a revenue loss of $27.8 billion,

while global carriers will lose $29.3 billion in 2020 as an impact of the Novel Coronavirus outbreak.

The impact shows a potential 13% full-year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

The sharp downturn in demand as a result of COVID-19 shows severe financial impact on airlines.

According to experts, scenario would translate into lost passenger revenues of $29.3 billion.

Airlines are bound to make difficult decisions to due to passenger losses, making it very tough year for airlines.