Airline industry sees hope after last SARS travel warning lifted
GENEVA (AFP) - The airline industry heaved a sigh of relief after the World Health Organisation (WHO) lifted its SARS (news - web sites) travel warning for Beijing, the last in a series of unprecedented warnings which have wrought havoc with global travel.
The outbreak of SARS and the UN health agency's subsequent warnings against trips to areas hit by the disease fuelled a further slump in air travel, on top of the impact of the economic downturn, fears about terror attacks and the conflict in Iraq (news - web sites).
International air travel dropped by 18.5 percent worldwide in April, and by 44.8 percent for SARS-hit Asian airlines, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
"We've lost four months of traffic in east Asia, the losses that have been accumulated there and the drop in traffic worldwide are similar to the impact of September 11," said IATA spokesman William Gaillard on Tuesday, referring to the 2001 terror skyjackings in the United States.
"It's with great relief that finally these travel advisories are lifted," he told AFP.
For the first time in its 55-year history, the WHO issued a recommendation against non-essential travel to Hong Kong and China's southern province of Guangdong on April 2, and later extended it to other areas severely affected by SARS in Asia and Canada.
The deadly virus was carried by air travel, reaching Canada before alerts were issued, and some isolated cases emerged in Europe by the time containment precautions were in place, according to WHO experts.
Although IATA, which groups 280 airlines, admitted that the warnings were a health necessity, the WHO's warnings prompted the cancellation of both business and pleasure trips.
The World Travel and Tourism Council has estimated that SARS would cause some 8.8 billion US dollars (7.6 billion euros) in direct economic losses this year to Hong Kong and mainland China, the regions worst-affected by the new disease.
Tourism in the Chinese capital, Beijing, is estimated to have slumped by 98.1 percent, while the number of people travelling to or from Canada, especially the SARS-affected Toronto area, fell nearly six percent from March to April, according to official figures.
IATA said the economic impact spread to airlines based in areas which were not affected by the disease.
It tipped the balance for some companies which had relied on Asia as a motor of growth for air travel through the troubled years of 2001 and 2002.
Singapore Airlines was forced to cut 31.5 percent of its passenger capacity this year, while other airlines such as American Airlines or Swiss have been driven to the brink of financial collapse.
The lifting of the last ongoing travel advisory for now brings hope of recovery in air traffic, albeit a bit late for the peak summer season in the northern hemisphere according to Gaillard.
"It comes a bit late. The holiday season has suffered very much and we won't see a recovery for that until fall," Gaillard said.
But airlines are holding out for a swifter recovery in business travel.
"I think we should see very quickly after the lifting of all these travel advisories a real boom in business travelling which should then be followed in late August or September by more tourism," Gaillard said.
GENEVA (AFP) - The airline industry heaved a sigh of relief after the World Health Organisation (WHO) lifted its SARS (news - web sites) travel warning for Beijing, the last in a series of unprecedented warnings which have wrought havoc with global travel.
The outbreak of SARS and the UN health agency's subsequent warnings against trips to areas hit by the disease fuelled a further slump in air travel, on top of the impact of the economic downturn, fears about terror attacks and the conflict in Iraq (news - web sites).
International air travel dropped by 18.5 percent worldwide in April, and by 44.8 percent for SARS-hit Asian airlines, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
"We've lost four months of traffic in east Asia, the losses that have been accumulated there and the drop in traffic worldwide are similar to the impact of September 11," said IATA spokesman William Gaillard on Tuesday, referring to the 2001 terror skyjackings in the United States.
"It's with great relief that finally these travel advisories are lifted," he told AFP.
For the first time in its 55-year history, the WHO issued a recommendation against non-essential travel to Hong Kong and China's southern province of Guangdong on April 2, and later extended it to other areas severely affected by SARS in Asia and Canada.
The deadly virus was carried by air travel, reaching Canada before alerts were issued, and some isolated cases emerged in Europe by the time containment precautions were in place, according to WHO experts.
Although IATA, which groups 280 airlines, admitted that the warnings were a health necessity, the WHO's warnings prompted the cancellation of both business and pleasure trips.
The World Travel and Tourism Council has estimated that SARS would cause some 8.8 billion US dollars (7.6 billion euros) in direct economic losses this year to Hong Kong and mainland China, the regions worst-affected by the new disease.
Tourism in the Chinese capital, Beijing, is estimated to have slumped by 98.1 percent, while the number of people travelling to or from Canada, especially the SARS-affected Toronto area, fell nearly six percent from March to April, according to official figures.
IATA said the economic impact spread to airlines based in areas which were not affected by the disease.
It tipped the balance for some companies which had relied on Asia as a motor of growth for air travel through the troubled years of 2001 and 2002.
Singapore Airlines was forced to cut 31.5 percent of its passenger capacity this year, while other airlines such as American Airlines or Swiss have been driven to the brink of financial collapse.
The lifting of the last ongoing travel advisory for now brings hope of recovery in air traffic, albeit a bit late for the peak summer season in the northern hemisphere according to Gaillard.
"It comes a bit late. The holiday season has suffered very much and we won't see a recovery for that until fall," Gaillard said.
But airlines are holding out for a swifter recovery in business travel.
"I think we should see very quickly after the lifting of all these travel advisories a real boom in business travelling which should then be followed in late August or September by more tourism," Gaillard said.
