Lufthansa Group extends China flight cancellations to March 28 over virus outbreak

A Lufthansa passenger aircraft undergoes de-icing before takeoff from Frankfurt airport

BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany's Lufthansa <LHAG.DE> on Friday said it would suspend all flights to mainland China until March 28 due to the new coronavirus, which is spreading in China and around the world.

"The Lufthansa Group has now decided to cancel the flights of Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian Airlines from/to Beijing and Shanghai until the end of the winter timetable on 28 March," the company said in a statement.

Lufthansa had initially suspended its flights until the end of February.

The airline added that some Hong Kong flights would be cancelled while its Swiss subsidiary would use smaller aircraft for flights to and from Hong Kong in March.

(Reporting by Klaus Lauer; Writing by Thomas Seythal; Editing by Michelle Martin)