EasyJet to cancel flights to Spain as country announces national state of emergency due to coronavirus

On Saturday, March 14, Spain was placed in lockdown by its government, putting severe travelling restrictions in place.

EasyJet then announced it would be suspending all flights to the country from Tuesday, March 17 to Sunday, March 29.

Now at 6,046 infections and 191 deaths, Spain is the worst coronavirus-hit country in Europe after Italy.

EasyJet will be operating flights on Sunday, March 15 and Monday, March 16, to allow travellers to return home. The move comes after Jet2 cancelled all flights to Spain effective from March 14 as the outbreak worsens.

In a Tweet the airline said: “Spain is the latest authority to impose flight restrictions. We’re flying a full Spanish schedule on 15th & 16th March to help get people home but unfortunately will need to cancel flights from 17th onwards.”

Ryanair and Jet2 have also announced they are cancelling flights to Poland.

On Tuesday, March 10 EasyJet, British Airways, Jet2 and Ryanair announced that they had cancelled flights to Italy.

It has also been confirmed that the United States is to extend its European travel ban to include the UK and the Republic of Ireland.

This will begin at 4am British time on Tuesday, March 17.

The announcement was made by Vice President Mike Pence. The UK and Ireland had previously been exempt.

Spanish destination flights from Newcastle Airport include Alicante, Barcelona, Majorca and Malaga.