The deadly coronavirus discovered in China has traveled by air to some 25 other countries. It’s no wonder a lot of those countries are restricting flights and handing airlines their worst event-driven financial hit since 2003.
More than 25,000 flights were canceled in the first full week of February, according to data from air travel intelligence firm OAG. Thirty airlines have suspended services to China, reaching a combined 8,000 seats per week, OAG says. The virus, discovered in the central Chinese city of Wuhan in December, has sickened more than 40,000 people and killed over 900 as of February 10.
Airlines will feel a financial pinch that reminds them of the deadly outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that started in China in 2003, aviation experts predict. They say today’s suspensions are already as bad as the SARS peak from March through June 2003. They attribute that to the coronavirus’s quick, widely-reported spread and the equally fast moves around the world to ban travel-related activity—a result of everyone learning from the SARS crisis.
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