Ryanair makes further cuts to Italian flights as travel lockdown begins
Ryanair has announced more cuts to its flight schedules to and from Italy today after the Italian government put the north of the country into lockdown yesterday.
As of tomorrow, the budget airline is suspending all Italian domestic flights to and from Milan’s Bergamo and Malpensa airports, as well as those from Parma and Treviso, both of which are in the quarantine zone.
From Thursday, Ryanair will reduce flights from Bergamo, Malpensa, Venice, Parma, Rimini and Treviso so that there is only one service a day on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
The company said although inbound traffic to Italy was severely depleted, it needed to operate the four-day schedule in order to repatriate the “many thousands of non-Italian visitors currently in the Lombardy and other affected regions who are scheduled to return home”.
It said that it was acting fully in compliance with World Health Organization (WHO) and Irish government directives.
All passengers on flights affected by travel bans or cancellations, are receiving emails and are being offered flight transfers, full refunds or travel credits.
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In Europe, Italy has been hit the worst by the coronavirus outbreak, with 366 people having died from the disease.
Over 1,200 people have been infected, which has led the country’s government to enforce the clampdown on non-essential travel to and from Lombardy.
Over 16m people – roughly a quarter of Italy’s population – have been affected by the measure, which will remain in place until 3 April.
The decree instructs citizens to “absolutely avoid” either entering or leaving the areas listed, and even to avoid moving around other than for emergencies or “essential work reasons” within the designated areas.
The Foreign Office has changed its travel advice stating that it advises against all but essential travel to parts of the country.
Following the lockdown in northern regions, the government has advised against travel to the Lombardy region, which includes the city of Milan, and other regions in lockdown.