South Korea,Italy,and Iran have been particularly badly affected. Germany,Japan,France,Spain,the United States,Singapore and Hong Kong have all reported more than 100 cases.

Among the latest events to be cancelled is the world air traffic management congress in Madrid,which had been scheduled for March 10-12.

'Inevitable'

The failure of British regional airline Flybe comes less than two months after a rescue deal for the company was agreed by its owners and the British government.

Despite its commitment to improving regional transport links,the government backed away from that deal due to the scale of the hit to demand from the virus outbreak.

"All flights have been grounded and the UK business has ceased trading with immediate effect,"Flybe said as it entered administration,a form of protection from creditors.

The failure of the airline,which has long struggled with losses,not only puts around 2,400 jobs at risk but could also see some regional UK airports struggle.

Flybe carried around eight million passengers a year between 81 airports and was owned by a consortium of Virgin Atlantic,Stobart Group and Cyrus Capital.

Its collapse came a day after Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told Reuters it was"inevitable"the coronavirus crisis would lead to airline bankruptcies.

Cancellations

Norwegian Air,a pioneer of low-cost transatlantic travel,has also been struggling for years due to cut-throat competition and heavy debts built up during rapid expansion.

The company,which has repeatedly raised cash from shareholders to stay in business,said on Thursday it was scrapping its 2020 earnings guidance,which had predicted a return to profit after three years of losses,due to the drop in travel demand and disruption caused by the virus.

It also said it would cancel 22 long-haul flights between Europe and the United States from March 28 to May 5,with routes from Rome to Los Angeles,Boston and New York seeing a reduced number of departures.

Norwegian shares,which have lost more half of their market value this year,were down almost 7 per cent at 11:30am in London.

Analysts say few airlines are likely to remain unscathed,as both business and tourist travel is being affected.

The Global Business Travel Association said last week the crisis could scythe $US560 billion from spending on corporate travel this year,a 37 per cent drop from its 2020 global expenditure forecast,as meetings and events are cancelled and companies limit travel to protect employees.

Data provider ForwardKeys said on Thursday new flight bookings to Europe from elsewhere in the world fell by 79 per cent in the last week of February,as the virus took hold in popular tourist destinations such as Italy.

"The drop-off in bookings to Italy is even worse than we have observed in the past for some of the most disruptive events such as terror attacks,"ForwardKeys Vice President Insights Olivier Ponti said.

Reuters