Carriers around the world continue to slash capacity as they contend with increasing restrictions and little demand amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
South African Airways has suspended all long-haul flights until May 31, limiting its service to regional and domestic routes.
"It is all our responsibility, not just government, to curb further transmission of the virus," South African Airways acting CEO Zuks Ramasia said in a statement. "In addition, the increasing risks to our crew of contracting the virus, including the possibility of being trapped in foreign destinations as a consequence of increasing travel bans, cannot be ignored."
Qantas has suspended all international flights from Australia from the end of March until at least May 31, though it is considering some service for the purpose of repatriation. During that time, Qantas will ground more than 150 aircraft, including its full fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 747s and B787s. In addition, the carrier has cut about 60 percent of domestic flights through the end of May, though it aims "to maintain essential domestic, regional and freight connections as much possible," according to Qantas.
During that time, Qantas has asked two-thirds of its nearly 30,000 employees to "stand down," meaning they can collect paid leave but otherwise will not be receiving wages.
TAP Air Portugal has announced a reduced schedule out of Lisbon from March 23 until April 19. It still will serve London Heathrow with four flights per week, São Paulo with three flights per week and several international destinations with two flights per week: Newark, Boston, Toronto, Miami, Luxembourg, Geneva, Frankfurt, Paris and Amsterdam. It also will maintain daily flights or more on domestic routes to Porto, Funchal, Ponta Delgada and Terceira.
American Airlines on Thursday announced it would use some of its grounded aircraft for cargo-only flights, the first time the carrier flown such service on a scheduled basis since 1984. The first such flight was between Dallas-Fort Worth and Frankfurt on Friday.