(Sharecast News) - British Airways and Ryanair have cancelled hundreds of flights as the coronavirus outbreak dents demand.
Budget airline Ryanair said on Monday that it was cancelling up to 25% of Italian short-haul flights from 17 March to 8 April, while BA will cancel more than 400 flights between 16 and 28 March.
Both airlines pointed to a drop in demand. Ryanair said it had seen a "significant" reduction in bookings over the late March/early April period and an increase in the number of passenger no-shows on flights, particularly from and within Italy.
The cancellations are not expected to have a material impact on current year guidance, Ryanair said, although it also cautioned that it's too early to speculate what impact the Covid-19 outbreak will have on FY21 earnings.
Chief executive officer Michael O'Leary said: "It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the Covid-19 outbreak.
"This is a time for calm. We will make sensible cuts to our schedules over the comings weeks to reflect weaker bookings, and changing travel patterns. All affected customers will be advised of any schedule changes at least 14 days in advance.
"We will continue to comply fully with guidelines from National Governments, the WHO and EASA as they are updated on a regular basis. We will update the market in due course on any significant developments."
British Airways - which is owned by International Consolidated Airlines Group - said most of its cancellations are for short-haul flights between Heathrow and Italy, France, Austria, Belgium, Germany, Ireland and Switzerland.
"To match reduced demand due to the continuing coronavirus issue, we are merging a number of flights between March 16 and March 28," the airline said.
"We will be contacting customers on cancelled flights so we can discuss their travel options, including rebooking onto other carriers where possible, full refunds or booking with BA for a later date of travel."