SARS Fear Adds to Woes of Global Airlines

tycoonjack · 04-02-2003, 05:10 PM

Quote:

As Congress debated how much financial help to give battered U.S. airlines on Wednesday, yet another worry began to emerge for some top global carriers, with fears that Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome would further depress international demand already hit by war in Iraq.

Some airlines, particularly those with big Pacific rim presences, were reporting flight cutbacks to Asia as fear of flying found a new cause in a world where such jitters were already commonplace.

"Across the board SARS has made a lot of people scared to fly, especially to Asia," said Leon Van Wijk, the chief executive of Dutch carrier KLM . He called his airline's drop in bookings "really dramatic," with overall March traffic down 9 percent.

tycoonjack · 04-02-2003, 05:12 PM

Related topic

This show just how much the industry is worried

tycoonjack · 04-04-2003, 11:49 PM

Fears about cabin air grow

Quote:

The spread of a new highly infectious respiratory disease is reigniting questions about the cleanliness of the air inside airplane cabins and cutting into bookings for airlines flying into areas where the infection is prevalent.

The Association of Flight Attendants has petitioned the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration to require airlines to provide masks and gloves for flight attendants who want to use them, and procedures for dealing with cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, as the disease is known. And several major airlines announced Thursday a sharp decline in advance reservations due to the war in Iraq and to passengers' concerns about SARS. SARS is believed by doctors to be spread when an infected person coughs or sneezes, allowing droplets of contaminated water to enter the air. That could pose a hazard to airline passengers, particularly those who are confined for a dozen hours or more on international flights.

merchanb · 04-05-2003, 01:37 AM

Maybe I' a worrier but I'm canceling trip reservations for May that start in Beijing and end up in Hong Kong.

Probably gonna go to Costa Rica instead.

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04-02-2003, 05:12 PM	#2
tycoonjack Senior Member Business Class Join Date: Sep 2001 Location: AUS Posts: 690	Related topic This show just how much the industry is worried

04-05-2003, 01:37 AM	#4
merchanb Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2002 Location: GUM Posts: 136	Maybe I' a worrier but I'm canceling trip reservations for May that start in Beijing and end up in Hong Kong. Probably gonna go to Costa Rica instead.