EU Travel Restrictions Trigger Massive Cancellations

Caribbean News…
20 March 2020 10:51pm
empty airport, solitary passenger

ForwardKeys has come up with a new assessment, this time around targeting the potential impact of Tuesday evening’s decision by European Union member states to adopt guidelines on the closure of European borders for 30 days. 

According to the study, way over 48,200 flights and 10.2 million seats are in jeopardy of being cancelled.

“At present, it’s not clear exactly what proportion of the 48,200 flights between the EU and so-called ‘third countries’ will be cancelled, because the EU guidelines clearly contemplate that a skeleton service needs to be maintained for essential travel and it is up to each member state to decide on the extent of the implementation in their own territory. However, it is inevitable that this guidance will have a substantial negative impact on connectivity,” said Olivier Ponti, VP Insights of ForwardKeys. 

The airline that could suffer the most from the new EU restrictions is Air France, which has around 800,000 seats between the EU and other world regions. Next, come Lufthansa, Emirates, KLM, Wizz Air, Qatar Airways, Ryanair, Turkish Airlines, Delta and Aeroflot.

In terms of countries, the EU nations which stand to lose the most flights are also the largest ones. France stands to be the most substantially affected, potentially losing over two million seats. 

It is followed by Germany, which stands to lose just under two million, and then the Netherlands and Spain, each with around one million seats in service to third countries, prior to the EU’s proposed restrictions.

For the purposes of the EU’s guidance, the UK is not considered to be a ‘third country’ so the number of seats in jeopardy for this analysis does not include air traffic between the UK and EU countries. 

However, with Ryanair’s announcement yesterday that it expects to stop “most if not all” flights by 24th March and to cut 80% of its schedules before then, the impact on European air travel will likely be substantially greater than the 48,200 flights put at risk by the EU’s guidance.

Back to top