CORRECTED-(OFFICIAL)-UPDATE 2-Delta cutting flights to South Korea; JetBlue waives U.S. change fees

(Corrects number of flights per week to 28 from 35 in paragraph
two after company revised statement)
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Delta Air Lines Inc DAL.N
said on Wednesday it would temporarily cut flights to and from
South Korea in half, citing global health concerns related to
the coronavirus outbreak as U.S. airlines grapple with lagging
travel demand.
From Saturday through April 30, Delta is suspending service
between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Seoul-Incheon. Delta will also
reduce to five times weekly its services between Seoul and
Atlanta, Detroit and Seattle through April 30. In total, Delta
is shrinking its typical 28 U.S. weekly flights to Korea to 15.
The airline's new service from Seoul-Incheon to Manila,
previously scheduled to begin on March 29, will now start on May
1.
South Korea has the most virus cases outside China and
reported 334 new cases on Thursday for a total of 1,595. South
Korea also reported its 13th death linked to the virus.

On Wednesday, Hawaiian Airlines Inc said it would suspend
its five-times-weekly service between Honolulu and Seoul-Incheon
beginning on Monday through April 30.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and
State Department on Wednesday both issued travel advisories
urging Americans to avoid non-essential travel to South Korea.
With U.S. air travel demand slumping, JetBlue Airways Corp
JBLU.O said that starting on Thursday through March 11, it
would suspend change and cancel fees for new flight bookings for
travel completed by June 1.
The airline said the policy "is designed to give customers
confidence that they will not be charged any JetBlue fees for
changes or cancellations later given evolving coronavirus
concerns."
U.S. carriers have canceled all flights to China through
late April, while the United States barred nearly all non-U.S.
citizens who traveled recently to China from entering the United
States and required U.S. citizens who recently visited China to
return home at one of 11 U.S. airports for enhanced screening.
At a news conference on Wednesday, President Donald Trump
said he was not imposing restrictions on travelers from
additional countries with large numbers of cases like South
Korea or Italy. He did not rule out imposing additional travel
restrictions at a later date if needed. On Wednesday, the chairman of the U.S. House of
Representatives Transportation Committee, Representative Peter
DeFazio, and the chair of the subcommittee overseeing aviation,
Representative Rick Larsen, wrote the U.S Transportation
Department asking how the government "plans to effectively
prepare for the imminent arrival of a pandemic caused by
coronavirus COVID-19 on U.S. soil."
The two Democrats said U.S. airlines had expressed concern
about the scope of requests by the CDC and expectations
regarding airlines' collection of certain inbound passenger
data. The CDC has expressed concern about its ability to access
information from the airlines.
On Monday, United Airlines Inc UAL.O said near-term demand
to China had almost disappeared and that demand for the rest of
its trans-Pacific routes had dropped by 75%.