American Airlines Suspends China Travel Amid Coronavirus Outbreak

FORT WORTH, TX — American Airlines is suspending travel to and from China in the wake of a growing outbreak of the new coronavirus, officials announced Friday.

The airline joins Delta and United — both of which also made similar announcements on Friday —among the carriers grounding U.S.-China flights, according to multiple media reports.

"Based on the U.S. Department of State’s recent increase of the China Travel Advisory to a Level 4 (Do Not Travel), American is suspending its operations to and from the Chinese mainland beginning today through March 27," officials wrote on the airline's website. "Our teams are contacting affected customers directly to accommodate their needs. We will continue to evaluate the schedule for March 28 and beyond and make any adjustments as necessary."

American Airlines says it offers 6,800 daily flights to more than 365 destinations in 61 countries from its hubs in Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Washington, D.C. It's unclear what percentage of the airline's travel business involves to travel to and from China.

On the same day of the airlines' travel suspensions, the federal government issued a temporary suspension on foreign nationals' entry to the U.S. if they have traveled to China over the past two weeks. The move restricts foreign nationals from entering the U.S. except if they are immediate family members of American citizens and permanent residents.

The travel suspension, which began Sunday, dictates that any U.S. citizen returning home after having visited the Hubei province of China in the last two weeks will be quarantined for up to 14 days, according to an announcement by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar.

The epicenter of the new coronavirus, Wuhan, is located in Hubei.