A total of 16 foreign airlines have cancelled 492 international flights to India so far due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri informed Parliament on Thursday.

AI on Friday cancelled all its flights to Italy, France, South Korea, Kuwait, Madrid and Colombo till April 30 over coronavirus outbreak.

The national carrier on Thursday decided to cancel all its flights to Kuwait till April 30 and curtail services to various other countries, including Spain, France and Sri Lanka.

The move comes a day after Air India announced temporary suspension of its services to Rome, Milan and Seoul, amid the coronavirus pandemic which has triggered imposition of travel restrictions by various countries across the globe.

An airline official said all flights operating to and from Kuwait have been cancelled till April 30.

“The existing curtailment of services to Seoul (South Korea), Rome and Milan (Italy) too has been extended till April 30,” he added.

A total of 16 foreign airlines have cancelled 492 international flights to India so far due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, Union civil aviation minister Hardeep Puri informed Parliament on Thursday.

Domestic carriers have also taken a hit, as 93 flights have been cancelled per week by Vistara, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir.

Fresh bookings and occupancy in domestic flights have dropped by 15-20% in the wake of the outbreak among passengers.

According to IndiGo, there has been a 15-20% week-on-week dip in daily bookings over the past few days.

“In January and February, IndiGo experienced modest impact from the coronavirus. We cancelled all flights to China and Hong Kong and reduced frequency to certain other south-east Asian markets. This capacity was redeployed in other markets without having a material impact on our revenues,” the airline said in a statement. The carrier is expecting quarterly earnings to be impacted because of the cancellations.

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