Routes: SFO shuts terminal; China bans flights & US domestic cuts proliferate A weekly roundup of airline and airport route and service news

SFO's International Terminal will shut down Boarding Area A on April 1. SFO's International Terminal will shut down Boarding Area A on April 1. Photo: San Francisco International Photo: San Francisco International Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Routes: SFO shuts terminal; China bans flights & US domestic cuts proliferate 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

Now that U.S. and foreign airlines have pared down their international schedules to almost nothing – or in many cases, have temporarily stopped flying altogether – some airports like San Francisco International are trying to cope by shutting down unused spaces. Meanwhile, U.S. carriers are now trying to deal with plunging demand on domestic routes by canceling flights right and left, especially on routes to Hawaii.

This week, we have new details about suspension of domestic service by Hawaiian and Alaska Airlines; deep new schedule cuts by Southwest, United and Delta; and more news about international route adjustments from a number of airlines. And remember those China flights that were supposed to come back? We have news about that, too.

On Friday afternoon, United Airlines broadcast dire message about its flight schedules from top management, stating: "We are currently planning to make even deeper cuts in May and June. And, based on how doctors expect the virus to spread and how economists expect the global economy to react, we expect demand to remain suppressed for months after that, possibly into next year."

To get a sense of how drastic the reduction in passenger demand is becoming, look no further than the Transportation Security Administration’s daily count of airport screenings. On Wednesday, TSA agents screened 239,234 individuals; the same day a year ago, that number was 2,273,811. That’s a decline of 90 percent. (But it’s just as well that TSA can reduce checkpoint staffing; in the past two weeks 28 of its screening officers have tested positive for coronavirus.)



As airlines slash service, airports are struggling to trim their own capacity and operations. San Francisco International Airport said this week that from April 1 through the end of May, it will close down the International Terminal’s Boarding Area A side (Gates A1-A15) and start using Boarding Area G (Gates G1-G14) exclusively for all international flights.

“In the recent days, an average of less than 12 flights per day have departed from Boarding Area A. By April 1st, international flights at SFO will have been reduced by 52 percent,” an airport spokesperson said. That also means closing one security checkpoint and consolidating Customs & Border Protection inspections for all international flights. Boarding Area G, typically used primarily for United and Star Alliance flights, is connected to Domestic Terminal 3 via a post-security walkway.

More examples: Delta is shutting down some airport facilities (in addition to closing most of its Sky Clubs, as we noted last week): At Los Angeles International, Delta’s Terminal 3 check-in counters have closed, so all passengers should check in at the Terminal 2 counters -- although self-check-in kiosks and TSA checkpoints remain open in both T2 and T3. The airline is also consolidating gates across terminals in Atlanta’s airport, “minimizing the use of portions of Terminals C, D and E.” At LaGuardia, check-in for all Delta flights has been consolidated in Terminal C, and at New York JFK all check-in now takes place in Terminal 4.

At United’s Newark hub, the Terminal A TSA checkpoint has closed, so United passengers departing from A must check in at Terminal C and take a post-security bus to Terminal A; and at United’s Houston Bush Intercontinental hub, the Terminal B TSA checkpoint has closed, with check-ins consolidated into Terminals C and E. London’s Gatwick Airport is closing its North Terminal for at least a month, and flight operations in its South Terminal will be restricted to the hours of 2 to 10 p.m.

In addition to the airport lounge closures recently put in place by major U.S. carriers, some private pay-per-use lounge operators have also been affected. For instance, Escape Lounges said this week it has closed all of its U.S. locations “until further notice.” Escape has lounges at 11 U.S. airports, including Oakland and Sacramento.

Route news: We recently noted that Hawaiian Airlines said it was going to suspend most of its long-haul service, and now the airline has issued some details. The state’s government has issued a mandatory 14-day quarantine order for all arriving passengers, which is likely to remain in effect well into May, so anyone traveling there must agree to isolate themselves – not an ideal way to spend your island vacation. (By the way, Hawaii is not the only state with a domestic travel restriction. Florida, Maryland and Texas have ordered all passengers coming from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to self-quarantine for 14 days after their arrival.)

Anyway, Hawaiian said this week that during April, its only mainland service will include one daily A330 non-stop between San Francisco-Honolulu and Los Angeles-Honolulu. And it doesn’t expect many passengers to use those flights.

“The California routes present cargo opportunities to help maintain service for shippers affected by the reduction in passenger flights due to the state of Hawaii’s mandatory 14-day quarantine for overseas arrivals,” Hawaiian said. The airline noted that it will continue to maintain a healthy inter-island schedule of 41 flights a day during April.

Alaska Airlines, which in mid-March had announced a modest 10 percent reduction in capacity, took that up several notches this week. It now plans to slash its systemwide schedule by 70 percent during April and May, canceling about 900 of its usual 1,300 daily flights. “Some regions we serve will see an even greater reduction of service, such as Hawaii, where the governor has issued a mandatory, 14-day self-isolation quarantine for all travelers entering the state. The state of Alaska has also initiated a similar quarantine process,” Alaska noted.

Other than those two markets, Alaska said it expects to maintain “our basic network footprint,” but with “significantly reduced frequencies of service and the elimination of nearly all red-eye flights.” The airline said its new cutbacks are mostly affecting “selected routes with lower load factors,” and noted that passenger demand in recent days “has plummeted…some of our flights have had only several passengers on board.”

The Hawaii quarantine order is also having a huge impact on Southwest’s schedule to the islands from the Bay Area, which is just part of a much larger systemwide cutback. Southwest is eliminating about 1,500 of its 4,000 daily flights “until our previously revised schedule begins on April 14.” That earlier revision called for a 20 percent capacity reduction from April 14 through June 5. The carrier noted that because of “daily fluctuations” in its schedule, it can’t provide numbers of flights canceled in specific markets.

But in the case of Hawaii, Southwest said it will consolidate all operations starting April 5 into just two daily flights between Oakland and Honolulu. On inter-island routes, it will keep operating two daily roundtrips between Honolulu and most neighbor island airports. The Hawaii cutbacks are expected to last through May 2. The airline has also suspended service to all of its international destinations at least through May 4, including flights to Los Cabos from San Jose, Oakland and Sacramento.

Delta this week also acknowledged government-imposed travel restrictions by announcing even more schedule reductions, including flights to Hawaii. Delta service from Atlanta, Salt Lake City and Minneapolis-St. Paul to Honolulu was suspended Thursday; Seattle-Kona flights stopped Friday and will be followed by Seattle-Kauai on April 2. A number of Delta routes to Canada got the same treatment this week, including Atlanta-Vancouver; Cincinnati-Toronto; Minneapolis-Montreal; LaGuardia to Montreal and Ottawa; Salt Lake City to Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary; MSP-Toronto and MSP-Vancouver; to be followed by Seattle-Calgary on April 2.

United’s latest schedule update, which includes an overall domestic reduction of 52 percent, shows continuing service from SFO to Honolulu, Kauai, Kona and Maui, but a suspension of several other Hawaii routes including LAX-Kona, LAX-Kauai, LAX-Maui, Denver-Kona, Denver-Kauai, Newark-Honolulu and Chicago-Maui. United also said it now plans to discontinue all service to Canada as of April 1.

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Photo: Chris McGinnis China has banned flights from the US for at least a month, nixing...

Remember our "hopeful news" post stating that Air China, China Southern and China Eastern would fly back to SFO this week? Well, that's not going to happen after all. With government officials now fearing that a COVID-19 outbreak could return via visitors arriving from currently afflicted countries like the U.S., China has banned foreign visitors and nonstop service between SFO and mainland China, effective Sunday and lasting for at least a month, according to an SFO spokesperson. The move will affect movement of both passengers and air cargo.

We also have some new information on service cancellations by foreign carriers. Last week, we noted that British Airways was due to suspend London Heathrow-San Jose service through April 16, along with several other U.S. routes. But in a route update this week, BA shows San Jose service suspended from March 29 through April 30. The latest update also shows BA’s San Francisco service canceled from March 29 through April 3, then operating one flight a day instead of two (and using a 747 for that single daily flight) from April 4-30. At LAX, BA’s three daily LHR flights are scrapped March 29-April 3, and then one daily 787 flight will operate through April 30.

Delta’s SkyTeam partner KLM said this week its reduced schedule from March 29 through May 3 will include the continuation of some intercontinental routes, including seven flights a week from Amsterdam to New York JFK, three a week to Los Angeles and Atlanta, and two a week to Chicago.

Turkish Airlines this week canceled all its international flights from Istanbul except to Chicago, Washington Dulles, and three foreign destinations, effective from March 27 through April 17.

The Big Three Middle Eastern airlines have also jumped on the cancellation bandwagon. Dubai-based Emirates this week suspended most of its international passenger operations, including flights to San Francisco and other points in the U.S. SFO service is currently set to resume July 1 with an A380; dates for Emirates’ other U.S. service resumptions include LAX, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Boston and Washington Dulles on May 1; New York JFK, Seattle, Houston, Chicago and Orlando on July 1. You can see the specifics here. Etihad said it has suspended all operations through April 10, and then will resume a limited schedule that includes service from Abu Dhabi to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York JFK and Washington Dulles. Qatar Airways’ latest schedule plan shows continuing but reduced service from Doha to Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Washington Dulles and New York JFK through May 31, although flights to Los Angeles and Philadelphia will be suspended during April and May.

Singapore Airlines said Sunday that it planned to ground almost all of its aircraft and to cut 96 percent of its capacity that had been scheduled through April. But on Friday, new schedule filings from Singapore showed plans to operate some key international routes from April 12-30, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Newark and Seattle nonstops, as well as Singapore-Tokyo Narita-LAX service.

In other Pacific markets, Korean Air’s latest schedule data for the period March 29 through April 25 shows continuing service from Seoul Incheon to San Francisco with four flights a week, to LAX and JFK with daily service, and to Washington Dulles, Chicago and Honolulu with three flights a week. And Fiji Airways said it is suspending almost all international flights from now through May 31, including its three weekly San Francisco flights and its daily Los Angeles service.

Finally, Mexico’s low-cost Volaris said it has decreased capacity by 50 percent through the end of April.

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Chris McGinnis is SFGATE's senior travel correspondent. You can reach him via email or follow him on Twitter or Facebook. Don't miss a shred of important travel news by signing up for his FREE biweekly email updates!

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