Austrian Airlines says to suspend all flights from Thursday over coronavirus

Austria Airlines, a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group, said Monday that it will suspend all of its regular flights from Thursday owing to a sharp drop in demand stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.

Austria Airlines said that the suspension of flights would last until March 28 but that it would continue to operate flights to repatriate Austrians trapped abroad.

The carrier's last regularly scheduled flight is due to arrive Thursday morning from Chicago, a statement said.

Last week, Lufthansa said it would cancel 23,000 flights across the group, a 50-percent reduction, as it tries to deal with the impact of the epidemic.

"Due to the exceptional circumstances caused by the spread of the virus," Lufthansa said it would scrap 23,000 flights between March 29 and April 24, with more "expected in the coming weeks".