(Adds more details, background)
BEIJING/SHANGHAI, March 4 (Reuters) - China on Wednesday
rolled out cash support to both domestic and foreign carriers to
encourage them to restore services and stop suspending flights
during the coronavirus outbreak.
The move, which had been flagged by the country's aviation
regulator in recent weeks, will alleviate cashflow pressure on
China's aviation industry, one of the worst-affected by the
epidemic as nations curbed travel fearing contagion and airlines
cancelled flights as demand shrivelled.
Data from Cirium showed the number of flights to, from and
within China cancelled or removed from schedules totalled
347,414 from Jan. 24 through Feb. 27.
But some capacity has been added back since, according to
flight schedules, with mainland carriers restoring some services
as business activity recovers and there are fewer reported
coronavirus cases daily in China.
For every available seat kilometre, Beijing will award
0.0176 yuan ($0.0025) for routes that are shared by multiple
carriers and 0.0528 yuan for routes that are only operated by
one carrier, the Civil Aviation Administration of China said in
a statement on its website.
For example, British Airways, which has cancelled all its
flights to mainland China, would receive about a 50,000 yuan
subsidy for each flight from London to Beijing if it sold all
the seats, Reuters calculations showed.
The subsidies, which will be effective for flights between
Jan. 23 and June 30, would only apply to routes with mainland
destinations or departure points, the CAAC said.
On Wednesday, Finnair said it would cancel all
its flights to mainland China until April 30.
($1 = 6.9219 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Stella Qiu in Beijing and Brenda Goh in Shanghai;
Editing by Alex Richardson, Kirsten Donovan)
International Airlines (IAG)
