Coronavirus travel news: Flights cancelled as Flybe collapses

The trade body for cruise lines, CLIA, has outlined new guidance for its members amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Cruise lines that are members of CLIA should deny boarding to all passengers who have travelled from, visited or transited via South Korea, Iran, China (including Hong Kong and Macau) and any Italian municipality currently in isolation, within 14 days.

It also advised cruise lines to enhance their screening procedures.

“The adoption of these measures further demonstrates the cruise industry’s unique ability to respond quickly as circumstances evolve,” said Kelly Craighead, president and CEO of CLIA.

“We remain in close contact with local governments around the world, and while we regret that these changes will result in the denial of boarding for some of our guests, travellers should know that their health and safety is the absolute priority for the industry.”

The collapse of Flybe has highlighted the need to look closely at what's covered by your travel insurance policy.

Tommy Lloyd, managing director of Medical Travel Compared, said:

When choosing a travel insurance provider, look for the inclusion of ‘End Supplier Failure’.

If your policy includes this, should an airline, hotel or car hire company cease trading after you’ve paid for their services, you can make a claim under this financial failure cover.

Some policies may only list ‘Scheduled Airline Failure’ which provides cover exclusively for airline failure, whereas ‘End Supplier Failure’ covers a multitude of business failures.

For an airline failure, if you have purchased the flights on a credit card, debit card, or PayPal - it’s likely that you’ll be able to claim the funds back directly from your card issuer.

Some tour operators are attempting to boost sales by promising customers added flexibility when they book a holiday.

Luxury tour operator Letsgo2 has launched a money back guarantee: those making a 2020 holiday booking by phone on or after 5 March (and until further notice) will qualify and can cancel their booking free of charge up to 35 days before departure, no questions asked. 

The guarantee covers the majority of holidays booked with a scheduled carrier and clients will be advised at time of booking whether their choice is included.

Peter Reglar, chairman and founder of Letsgo2, said: “In these uncertain times we want to give our customers peace of mind, so they can choose from thousands of value for money holidays, knowing that if they decide not to travel, they are not left out of pocket.”

Scottish airline Loganair has said that it will take over 16 of Flybe’s key routes, launching nearly 400 new weekly flights from the UK.

The carrier also said it had opened a special recruitment line for former Flybe staff, with those who have found themselves suddenly unemployed prioritised when it comes to hiring for new roles.

The 16 itineraries being picked up by Loganair will run from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Newcastle airports.

Air traffic in China is down 61 per cent from January, although this graph from Flight Radar 24 shows there is a slight bounce in the number of flights since last week:

The Northern Ireland tourism industry has been "plunged into crisis" by the collapse of Flybe as regional connectivity is reduced, according to an industry body.

Joanne Stuart, chief executive of the The Northern Ireland Tourism Alliance, said:

If we don’t have urgent government support for regional air transport, the consequences for the entire Northern Ireland economy, not just tourism, will be incalculable.

The top 13 destinations in terms of direct air passenger flow in the calendar year 2018 from Northern Ireland Airports were to Great Britain and these routes accounted for 56 per cent of all air passenger flow to and from Northern Ireland in 2018.

For example one issue is Air Passenger Duty (APD) which is a reserved matter for Westminster. This is a blunt tax that does not take into consideration the lack of alternative travel options which disadvantages Northern Ireland compared to other UK locations. Our tourism sector is heavily reliant on domestic visitors from elsewhere in the UK, a source of visitors who are effectively ‘double-taxed’ by short-haul APD.

We appreciate that we are facing serious challenges but tourism, a £1bn contributor to the economy employing over 65,000 people has a strong and resilient private sector and is determined to meet these head on. However, we cannot do it alone and will have a full list of measures required to support the industry.