Flight suspensions on the rise as new contagious coronavirus strains spread

After the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus that is spreading in the south of England many European countries decided to suspend their flights to the United Kingdom. 

A British Airways A320 on taxiway. 




With the appearance of a new strain of coronavirus, the new restrictions have cancelled Christmas festivities in London, south-east and east England from Sunday morning, announced the British Prime Minister.

From Sunday, December 20 until midnight Tuesday, December 22, passenger traffic between France and the United Kingdom has been suspended.

Air France states in a press release "At this stage, services to the United Kingdom are partially maintained during this period, but flights will only carry passengers in the direction France to the United Kingdom. Return flights will return to Paris with cargo only. »

In the opposite direction, Air France has decided to reduce its program to a single flight during the day on the Paris-London route (compared with 4 initially planned) and the Paris-Manchester route (compared with 2 initially planned). The Paris-Edinburgh route, which was supposed to provide a round trip, has been cancelled.

At midday on December 21, many flights at London Heathrow airport were canceled: Delhi (Vistara), Dublin, Munich, Amsterdam, Milan (Alitalia), Cork, Berlin, Helsinki, Istanbul, Zurich (SWISS), Geneva, Frankfurt, Toronto, Rome, Casanblanca, Zagreb, Oslo, Turin, Hamburg, Bucharest, Prague, Vienna, Cork, Lyon, Copenhagen, Rihadh, Nice, Istanbul, Brussels, Düsseldorf, Zurich, Paris, Venice, Berlin, Stuttgart, Naples, Sofia, Amsterdam and Marseille. (Non-exhaustive list)

(For more information, contact your airline directly, via their website.)

Airlines are often code-share (several airlines on the same flight) but the majority of cancellations are British Airways flights.

Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands were the first countries to suspend flights. Dozens of people arriving from Great Britain spent the night in German airports because of a new COVID travel ban.

On December 21, Spain and Portugal also suspended flights from the United Kingdom. EasyJet, TUI and Ryanair cancelled flights. Tui and EasyJet customers in Tier 4 areas who booked to travel within the next two weeks were given the option to receive a cash refund or to book alternative travel.

Other European countries, Canada, Russia, Hong Kong, India and Turkey have also decided to suspend flights.

In 2019, traffic at London Heathrow Airport was over 80 million passengers, 27 million of which were to or from the European Union. Eurocontrol Director General Eamonn Brennan said there were 900 daily flights between Britain and European Union countries between Monday and Saturday last week.

Italy detected the new strain of coronavirus in a patient recently arrived in the country from the UK. The patient had landed at Rome's Fiumicino airport and is now under quarantine, the health ministry said Sunday. 

Air traffic is very badly disrupted. In addition to the flights with the United Kingdom, further flight suspensions could be decided with new routes interrupted between European countries. The coronavirus pandemic continues to weaken already struggling airlines such as Norwegian.

Anyone flying into the country from overseas will have to show proof of a negative Covid test before setting off. It comes as a ban on travellers from South America and Portugal came into force on Friday over concerns about a new variant identified in Brazil.

 Russia has suspended its flights until January 12, 2021. Germany is even considering suspending almost all of its international flights. Another variant of the coronavirus has been discovered in South Africa, leading to the suspension of flights with many countries such as Brazil, itself facing the spread of a worrying new strain. Italy, the United Kingdom and Turkey, for example, have suspended their flights with the South American country.