United Airlines to reduce flights to two New York City airports amid COVID-19 outbreak

Amidst the coronavirus outbreak, United Airlines have announced that it will drastically reduce the number of flights going to two New York airports. According to reports, from April 4 instead of 157 flight going to Newark and New York LaGuardia, now there will only be 17, due to the rising number of coronavirus cases in New York area.

Will fulfill responsibility

As per reports, instead of 139 daily flights to Newark, which is the airline's hub in the New York area, there will only be 15 while LaGuardia will see a drop from 18 daily flights to just two flights a day. United chief operations officer Greg Hart in a note to his employees said that the New York area was one of the busiest routes in the world and that they have an ongoing responsibility to get people and goods to where they are needed.

According to reports, United in a statement also added that it would still continue to pay all its employees in the region irrespective of whether they are on duty or not. United added that these reductions in flights would last at least three weeks.

Read: New York State Records Highest Number Of Deaths In Single Day From COVID-19

Read: New York: Students Seek Tuition Refund, Dean Responds With Video Of Her Dancing

On March 30, low-cost US carrier Spirit Airlines Inc announced that it was cancelling all flights to New York, Connecticut and New Jersey due to the rising seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic in these regions. According to reports, Spirit claimed that it was responding to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advisory that stated that only essential travel should be made to these regions.

New York has been one of the hardest-hit states in the United States. The deadly coronavirus has now killed almost 4,000 people in the state which accounts for 40 per cent of all coronavirus deaths in the United States. The United States has reported 311,635 coronavirus cases and the death toll in the US has crossed 8,000. The deadly coronavirus pandemic that began in China last year has infected 1,202,543 people globally and killed 64,732 worldwide.

(Image Credit: Pixabay)

Read: COVID-19: White House Watches Next ‘hot Spots’ After New York And New Jersey

Read: Beleagured New York Gets Critical Boost From Alibaba & China In Fight Against Coronavirus