NEW DELHI: National passenger carrier Air India has extended the suspension period for its Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi- Hong Kong services till June 30, owing to the outbreak of deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19). Earlier, Air India had cancelled its flights to Shanghai from January 31 to February 14 and to Hong Kong from February 7 until March 28.
Many international airlines have either reduced or suspended their operations to China. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), COVID-19 is expected to cause a 13 per cent full year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region. Considering that growth for the region’s airlines was forecast to be 4.8 per cent, the net impact will be an 8.2 per cent full-year contraction compared to 2019 demand levels, the IATA said.
“In this scenario, that would translate into a $27.8 billion revenue loss in 2020 for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region – the bulk of which would be borne by carriers registered in China, with $12.8 billion lost in the China domestic market alone,” IATA said in a statement. “In the same scenario, carriers outside Asia-Pacific are forecast to bear a revenue loss of $1.5 billion, assuming the loss of demand is limited to markets linked to China.”
Consequently, the total global lost revenue will come to $29.3 billion and represent a 4.7 per cent hit to global demand. The new virus, which is of the same genre as SARS of 2003, was first reported in WHO Disease outbreak news on January 5 in China’s Wuhan. Till now it has progressively spread across many countries.
However, the new virus has spread at a much faster pace than the 2003 SARS epidemic. In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have closed transportation services across many parts of the country, including Wuhan. IANS
Thank You For Your Vote!
Sorry You have Already Voted!
