Wizz Air Joins Coronavirus Shutdown

Wizz Air has suspended all flights to Italy and Israel after the two countries announced plans to try to beat Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus, the low-cost carrier said on Tuesday.

Flights to and from Italian airports will be cancelled from March 10 until April 3 and flights serving Israel’s Tel Aviv and Eilat will be suspended from March 12 until March 23, the company said.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has put all of Italy on lockdown from Tuesday until next month in an unprecedented move.

Israel will require anyone arriving from overseas to self-quarantine for 14 days as a precaution against the spread of coronavirus, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Monday.

Last week the Central and Eastern Europe-focused airline said it was difficult to predict the extent and duration of the outbreak and its impact on its new financial year, which begins next month.

Wizz Air’s rivals EasyJet and Ryanair have also cancelled flights into and out of Italy.

Subsequently, the Portuguese airline TAP, which operates seven weekly flights between Tel Aviv and Lisbon, said Wednesday it will cancel its flights to Israel until the end of March in view of the new restrictions ordered by Israeli authorities.