Austria's flag carrier Austrian Airlines announced Monday that it was extending the suspension of all its regular services until April 19 as the aviation industry reels from the coronavirus pandemic. "As travel bans imposed because of the coronavirus have not eased and there is little demand for air travel, Austrian Airlines will cease flights until April 19," the company said in a statement. It added that an agreement had been struck with unions and other stakeholders to put employees on short-time working, initially until April 20 but with a possible extension of up to five months after that. The airline said that flights to repatriate stranded Austrian nationals abroad were however continuing, with two planes heading to Mexico, Cuba and the Dominican Republic on Monday. The initial suspension of the airline's services was announced last Monday and was originally scheduled to last until March 28. Austrian Airlines is a subsidiary of the Lufthansa group. Last week Lufthansa itself said some 700 of Lufthansa's 763 aircraft were "temporarily parked" following massive reductions in its flight operations. The airline industry worldwide is facing an unprecedented crisis worldwide due to the pandemic, with industry associations saying huge public bailouts will be necessary to stop companies collapsing. jsk/jza/jh