With stunning rapidity, the world’s skies are becoming quiet places, with little traffic as more and more countries ban travel to each other and as fewer and fewer passengers want to go anywhere cooped up in a plane with potentially dangerous flightmates.
Some airlines, such as Austrian, LOT Polish, Air Baltic and SAS have shut down for at least weeks, while others have grounded large parts of their fleets. Virgin Atlantic, which operates almost entirely as an intercontinental carrier, has grounded 85% of its planes, Lufthansa has cut 90% of its long-haul routes and American Airlines has announced that its extensive world-wide network of long-haul flights will shrink to three. Only Dallas and Miami to London Heathrow and Dallas to Tokyo Narita will continue to operate.
Domestic flying is also taking a hit both in the U.S. and Europe, with many flights being canceled for lack of business. In Europe, Ryanair has been making deep cuts and may ground its whole operation.
