American Airlines and Germany’s Lufthansa Group are suspending or canceling services to South Korea as part of ongoing airline schedule changes prompted by the coronavirus crisis.

The suspension of American’s daily service between Dallas-Fort Worth and Seoul Incheon until April 25 is effective March 4 and was attributed to a reduction in demand.

It follows similar moves by Delta Air Lines, Hawaiian Airlines, Air New Zealand and Australia’s Jetstar.

“Our teams are contacting affected customers directly to accommodate their needs,’’ American said, noting customers could request a full refund.

“American continues to review the airline’s flight schedule to ensure that customers’ needs are accommodated and will make additional refinements as necessary.”

South Korea has been particularly hard hit as it grapples with a coronavirus outbreak that is the biggest outside China with more than 4800 confirmed cases and at least 29 people dead.

Aviation industry data experts OAG estimated in an analysis released earlier this week that the Asian country saw a 21 percent fall in seat capacity in the week following February 24.

Korean Air Lines is checking the temperatures of all passengers on US flights and has also boosted its cabin disinfection procedures.

All passengers bound for the US go through temperature checks at boarding gates using thermal imaging cameras and handheld thermometers. Those with a temperate higher than 37.5C are denied boarding.

At the same time, Korean is disinfecting aircraft using MD-125, an approved disinfectant known to eliminate coronaviruses.

Lufthansa announced it was reducing frequencies between March 5 and April 24 on routes from Frankfurt and Munich to Seoul as part of a significantly wider response to the coronavirus.

READ: Airlines to fly 40 million fewer seats in first months of 2020.

The airline’s flights between Munich and Hong Kong have also been suspended From March 6 to April 24 and passengers will be rebooked via Frankfurt and Zurich where possible. Flights to Tehran are suspended until April 30.

Japan is another Asian country starting to feel the pinch with All Nippon Airways announcing Wednesday it is reducing frequencies on a number of domestic routes and Silkair suspending operations between Singapore and Hiroshima from March 27.

In Europe, Lufthansa is adjusting its service to Northern Italy and reducing frequencies to destinations such as Milan, Venice, Rome, Turin, and Pisa during March, while Austrian Airlines was reducing its flight program to Italy by as much as 40 percent.

The European airline group signaled other reductions are planned for SWISS, Eurowings and Brussels Airlines, warning the changes would see the availability of short- and medium-haul flights reduced by up to 25 percent in the coming weeks.

“Lufthansa Group airlines are also continuing to reduce their long-haul flight program,” it said.

“Mathematically speaking, the number of Lufthansa Group long-haul aircraft not in operation will increase from 13 to up to 23.”

READ: Airlines and the economy resilient to virus shocks.

Ryanair is also reducing its short-haul flight program by up to 25 percent between March 17 and April 8 due to a significant drop in bookings due to COVID-19.

The airline reported a significant increase in passenger no-shows, particularly from and within Italy.

“Our focus at this time is on minimizing any risk to our people and our passengers,” Ryanair group chief executive Michael O’Leary said.

“While we are heavily booked over the next two weeks, there has been a notable drop in forward bookings towards the end of March, into early April.

“It makes sense to selectively prune our schedule to and from those airports where travel has been most affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.”

British Airways is canceling more than 200 flights between March 16 and March 28 to destinations that include New York, Italy, France, Germany and Ireland.

The US and other countries have upgraded travel warnings to South Korea, Italy, and Iran, with some countries such as the US and Australia now banning travel to the latter.

Iran has more than 2300 confirmed infected and a death toll at 77 while Italy has seen more than 2000 cases and 54 deaths.

In the US, the number of cases has now topped 100 with seven deaths and President Donald Trump says he is considering further travel restrictions.

Global figures on March 3 US time stood at more than 92,000 confirmed cases and at least 3131 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The World Health Organization is still hopeful the spread of the disease can be contained but has called for manufacturers of protective gear such as masks, gloves and goggle to increase production.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the coronavirus spread less efficiently than the flu but causes a more severe illness with a higher fatality rate.

The virus continues to have an economic impact with reserve banks in the US and Australia announcing interest rate cuts Tuesday.

The decision by the US Federal Reserve to slash interest rates by half a percentage point was the first emergency rate cut since the global financial crisis.

Despite the threat of further travel restrictions, a WHO update released February 29 continued to advise against the application of travel or trade restrictions to countries with COVID-19 outbreaks.

“In general, evidence shows that restricting the movement of people and goods during public health emergencies is ineffective in most situations and may divert resources from other interventions,’’ it said.

“Furthermore, restrictions may interrupt needed aid and technical support, may disrupt businesses, and may have negative social and economic effects on the affected countries.”

Aviation and the world economy have proved incredibly resilient to shocks – whether a virus, war or financial.

Over the past 30 years airlines, which are the barometer of the world economy, have endured many shocks such as two Iraq Wars, Asian Currency Crisis, Bird Flu, 9/11, SARS 1 and 11, Swine Flu, MERS and the GFC.

Those shocks, however, have not stopped the doubling of airline growth every 15 years over the past 30 years according to the International Civil Aviation Organization.

In fact, ever since 1950 global air passenger traffic has reverted to an underlying growth path over the long term aftershocks.

SEE Boeing’s 777X test program accelerates. 

According to an International Air Transport Association report, “Global Air Passenger Markets; Riding Out Periods of Turbulence, in the years surrounding the four most notable shocks to global aviation, global air traffic was well above the trend level, suggesting that the effects of each shock may be overstated.

However, each shock is different it says.

“The 1979 oil shock saw the shallowest, but longest-lasting, downturn, with the global recession of the early 1980s accounting for the persistence of slower growth until 1987.”

The relative drops in passenger traffic were deepest following the combined 2000–2001 shock of the dotcom bust and 9/11, and the 2008 shock of the global financial crisis—but in both cases, traffic had returned to its trend level within four years.

The report warns however that “while the industry has historically been able to constantly adapt its operations and business models to new challenges and external shocks, it should not be taken for granted that resilience will be always automatic.”

It says that the industry’s ability to bounce back from future unanticipated shocks will be influenced by factors outside its control, most notably the regulatory environment.

“A patchwork approach, consisting of uncoordinated country or region-specific regulations, reduces the industry’s ability to respond to shocks.

And in some areas, there appears to be a bounce back.

According to the Official Airline Guide (OAG) 2.9 million scheduled seats or 18,200 flights have been added back into the Chinese domestic market which places China back as the second-largest market in the world.

OAG says that of the 2.9 million scheduled seats returning to the Chinese market all but 3,000 are on domestic services with China Southern Airlines adding back 684,000 seats and China Eastern 566,000. Reports from industry sources suggest that the dramatic capacity recovery has led to very low fares being made available.

However, OAG says the optimism in China is not reflected in neighbouring markets where the impact of Coronavirus appears to be accelerating.

South Korea has seen a 21 per cent reduction in capacity and Hong Kong a further 22 per cent.

Cathay Pacific Airways has been severely hit with traffic through Hong Kong down 70 per cent since the crisis hit.

Japan, however, is remaining resilient with ANA’s capacity only down by some 2.7 per cent since January and JAL by 5.3 per cent.

Airlines globally are expected to operate 40 million fewer seats in the first four months of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 as a result of the coronavirus, with Asian markets badly savaged.

A new analysis of scheduled airline capacity by airline data expert OAG shows domestic capacity in China is recovering with 2.9 million seats returning to the market, up by 49.6 percent since February 24.

The added capacity in the huge Chinese domestic market outweighed the capacity reduction in other markets but the recovery has not been shared by its neighbors.

The reduction of 40.1 million seats represents a fall in global capacity over the four months of about 2.2 percent but traffic on key Asian routes has reportedly collapsed.

Hong Kong has been particularly badly hit with a further 22 percent reduction in seat capacity since February 24 bringing the total fall since January 20 to 71 percent.

South Korea also saw a 21 percent reduction in the past week, Taipei was down by 17.2 percent while Japan, buoyed by its massive domestic market, saw a more modest 2.2 percent fall.

Cathay Pacific, Korean Air, Asiana and Eva Airways have seen seat capacity cuts of 20 percent in the past week, according to the analysis by OAG’s John Grant.

Singapore Airlines no longer appears in OAG’s weekly South-East Asian weekly top 10 list after cutting capacity a further 5 percent to bring total cuts since January 20 to 12.5 percent.

Low-cost carrier AirAsia cut seats by almost 9 percent since February 24, according to the analysis, while Malaysia Airlines was down 3.7 percent.

The exception has been Indonesia but that may change now coronavirus has been reported there.

“Airlines such as Lion Air, Citilink Indonesia and Batik Air have all added capacity in the last seven weeks; if that growth can hold with a wider outbreak of the virus is yet to be seen,’’ Grant said.

In Europe, according to Grant, the recent coronavirus outbreak in Northern Italy did not appear to have impacted total capacity at a country level.

But he noted airlines were still adjusting schedules and re-accomodating passengers from some canceled services before removing flights from their systems.

“Some airlines have sought to add capacity to existing routes across their networks, taking advantage of expected increases in demand over the approaching Easter holiday period,’’ he said.

The OAG seat analysis came as the International Air Transport Association called for the rules governing airport slots to be suspended.

About 43 percent of passengers depart from 200 slot co-ordinated airports worldwide and slot allocation rules mean airlines must use 80 percent of the allocated slots or lose them in the next equivalent season.

However, regulators can relax these requirements in extraordinary circumstances and IATA says that’s what airlines now face.

It pointed to one carrier experiencing a 26 percent reduction in year-on-year capacity across their entire operation, carriers in some markets reporting 50 percent “no shows” and softening future bookings.

“IATA research has shown that traffic has collapsed on key Asian routes and that this is rippling throughout the air transport network globally, even between countries without major outbreaks of COVID-19,” IATA director general Alexandre de Juniac said.

“There are precedents for previous suspension of the slot use rules and we believe the circumstances again calls for a suspension to be granted.

“We are calling for regulators worldwide to help the industry plan for today’s emergency, and the future recovery of the network, by suspending the slot use rules on a temporary basis.“

Global coronavirus cases have now topped 90,000 with more than 3,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The number of cases is growing more quickly outside China, the source of the infection, and the World Health Organisation has warned the world is in “uncharted territory”.

WHO boss Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said outbreaks in South Korea, Italy, Iran and japan were of the greatest concern.

“We are in uncharted territory — we have never seen before a respiratory pathogen that is capable of community transmission, but at the same time which can also be contained with the right measures,” he told a news briefing in Geneva.

Iran has mobilized 300,000 teams to conduct nationwide door-to-door coronavirus checks as the death toll rose to 66 Monday and number of confirmed cases jumped to more than 1500.

South Korea reported almost 600 additional infections on Monday to bring the total to more than 4300.

In the US, the death toll in Washington State reached six as the number of cases across the country grew to about 75.

In Australia, the number of cases grew to 33 and a government minister has warned people not to shake hands or kiss as the country experienced its first death and person-to-person transmissions.

Authorities are seeking people who flew into Sydney on a Qatar Airways aircraft on February 23 with a woman from Iran who developed symptoms the next day and tested positive to the coronavirus.