Governments offer aid to airlines amid coronavirus-linked flight cuts and redundancies

A growing list of countries have offered financial aid to its aviation sector, to rescue carriers which have had to park planes and cut jobs because of the restrictions over the new coronavirus emerging from China.
Analysts warned that the airline industry is on the brink of collapse as governments are quarantining large portions of their populations and closing off borders to foreigners.
EU transport ministers also discussed potential support following calls from the airline sector for urgent tax relief. Airbus already signalled that some government support may be needed if the crisis lasts for several months. Sweden and Denmark on Tuesday announced $300 million in loan guarantees for Scandinavian carrier SAS.
Earlier this month, Europe’s largest regional airline Flybe has collapsed after running into earlier financial problems, with the virus restrictions dealing the final blow.
The Australian government said it would relieve airlines from charges such as domestic air traffic control fees worth $430 million.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA), said the total government support needed worldwide could reach $200 billion.
Airlines for America, a trade group representing major US airlines, asked the government for $50 billion in grants, loans and tax relief, for the industry to survive the falloff in travel demand from the pandemic. US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the government also considers travel restrictions within the US.