It cancels most of the flights from Switzerland, but continues to fly to Chicago and Newark near New York, as the airline announced on Thursday evening.
Passengers who are not affected by the stricter entry regulations can continue to reach all destinations within the USA via the two hubs served by the partner airline United Airlines, according to the communiqué. The offer is likely to be aimed primarily at US citizens who want to return to their home country.
All other US flights would be suspended from March 14th due to the restrictions of the US administration. The daily flight between Geneva and New York (JFK) is also affected. Swiss and Lufthansa, however, will continue to fly to all destinations in Canada until further notice.
Check status on website
In an earlier report, the airline regretted the inconvenience for its passengers. You would be asked to check the status of your flight on the Swiss homepage before starting your journey.
“Passengers who have entered the relevant contact details will be actively informed of changes via SMS or email,” wrote the Swiss airline. “In the event of a flight cancellation, passengers have the option of rebooking or having their flight ticket reimbursed.”
On the evening before, US President Donald Trump surprisingly announced a 30-day entry ban for people from the 26 states of the Schengen area to combat the Corona crisis. The ban will come into force on Friday (tomorrow).
Normal operation but less traffic
All scheduled flights to the USA took place at Zurich Airport on Thursday (today), as spokeswoman Sonja Zöchling said. Operations at Zurich Airport ran normally, albeit with less traffic because airlines either reduced frequencies to individual destinations or canceled certain flights entirely.
Only the day before, Swiss and Lufthansa had made further cuts due to the effects of the corona virus. All flights to and from Italy would be suspended until the beginning of April. Around 90 weekly connections from Zurich to Milan, Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples and Brindisi are affected, it said.
(SDA)
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