European, Asian airlines take steps to avoid Tokyo

FRANKFURT — Airlines from Asia and Europe halted flights to Tokyo on Tuesday, diverting planes south as fears grow of nuclear contamination in the wake of Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Deutsche Lufthansa said it was diverting flights to Osaka and Nagoya at least until the weekend, adding that planes returning from Tokyo on Monday were not contaminated.

Air China said it had cancelled flights to Tokyo from Beijing and Shanghai, mainly due to the lack of operational capacity at some airports, while Taiwan's EVA Airways said it would cancel flights to Tokyo and Sapporo until the end of March.

Other airlines took steps to limit staff presence in Tokyo. Other international companies such as SAP and Infineon, are moving staff out of the capital to locations further south because of radiation concerns.

Air France-KLM, Europe's largest carrier by revenue, moved all of its crew on Monday out of Tokyo to Osaka, KLM spokeswoman Gedi Schrijver told Reuters on Tuesday.

Swiss International Air Lines said it had introduced an interim stop to Hong Kong on its route to Tokyo in order to shorten turnaround times in the Japanese capital.

Others, such as British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and Finnair, said they were still flying to the Narita and Haneda airports in the Japanese capital.

Governments also issued travel warnings in the wake of rising radiation levels.

Britain and the Netherlands advised against all but essential travel to Tokyo and the north-east of Japan. Italy recommended people avoid the country altogether and in particular the northeast.

As with the unrest in Egypt and Tunisia, Air France also said it was sending larger planes to Japan to accommodate demand. (report from Reuters)