Coronavirus Travel: 3 Major U.S. Airlines Suspend China Flights

Travelers who bought trip insurance could find that in general, most plans won’t protect against trip cancellations in scenarios like the coronavirus outbreak.

“Fear of travel, travel advisories and destinations being inaccessible due to this illness are typically not covered risks under travel insurance,” Carol Mueller, vice president for marketing at Berkshire Hathaway Travel Protection, said in an email. To be covered, travelers would have to buy more expensive “cancel for any reason” coverage, and even then, it would cover only about half of the total trip cost.

In 2018, more than 8.5 million passengers traveled between the United States and China, according to data from the United States Transportation Department. United carried about 17 percent of those passengers, second only to Air China’s 19 percent. Delta flew about 10 percent of those passengers, while American Airlines accounted for about 9 percent.

Nearly two-thirds of those who traveled between the two countries in 2018 flew on a handful of Chinese airlines, none of which immediately responded to requests for comment Friday on any plans to halt or modify service.

Major cargo companies — United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL — said that they were monitoring the spread of the virus and that they had urged employees to take basic safety precautions. DHL said services in Hubei Province — which includes Wuhan, the city at the center of the virus outbreak — had been suspended because of strict controls put in place by the local government.

In a research report this week, DHL warned that should local lockdowns in China extend into February, they could affect the supply chains of sectors including automotive, pharmaceutical and medical supplies, and high-tech manufacturing for the optical electronics and semiconductors industries. This week, Tesla, the electric-car maker, said production at its new Shanghai factory could be affected by a local order calling for a temporary halt to operations.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/31/business/china-flights-suspended.html?emc=rss&partner=rss