Spice Jet follows Indigo and Air Asia, waives rescheduling charges amid coronavirus outbreak

• SpiceJet became the third company to wave off rescheduling charges until March 31.
  
• Coronavirus has infected almost 43 people in India.
  

SpiceJet became the third company in India to wave off rescheduling charges until March 31, amid the mounting fears of coronavirus.

Travellers have restricted their holidays to a minimum after an advisory from health ministry. The airlines, in order to support the move and stay away from getting infected are now offering a free change of travel dates till March 31.

“We’ve got you covered,” Spicejet said on its Twitter handle. The tweet further added that the people are having second thoughts before travelling in the view of the virus. As a result, the company will not be charging any change fees on existing or new bookings between March 12 to March 31.

This came after Indigo announced a similar scheme two days ago and AirAsia followed a day later.


Coronavirus which has been rapidly spreading in India and has infected almost 43 people in India so far. This was after a lady in Jammu and Kashmir tested positive, today (March 9) morning.

Many airlines in India suspended their international flights, as foreign tourists has brought the pandemic into the country. Vistara, a subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, made “temporary” adjustments to select services in which 20 flights between Delhi and Bangkok, 26 flights between Singapore to Mumbai, and eight flights between Delhi to Singapore will be cancelled in March 2020.

Domestic carrier GoAir also temporarily suspended flights to Dammam and certain flights to Bangkok and Phuket sector. Cash-strapped national carrier Air India was also forced to shut its operations to Shanghai and Hong Kong till June 30. It also reduced the frequency of its Singapore, Seoul and Tokyo routes.

Coronavirus has not only severely affected the tourism and aviation industry, but also impacted the global economy, and the equity markets across the world are crashing in the fear of a slowdown. The currency and commodity markets have also taken a hit.

The ministry of health and family welfare advised Indian citizens to refrain from visiting coronavirus-hit countries like China, Iran, Republic of Korea, Italy and Japan. It has also suspended all visas of citizens from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan.