Global EditionASIA 中文雙語(yǔ)Fran?ais
    World
    Home / World / Europe

    BA boss optimistic in spite of virus challenges

    By EARLE GALE in London | China Daily Global | Updated: 2020-02-07 09:30
    Share
    Share - WeChat
    British Airways logos are seen on tail fins at Heathrow Airport in west London, Britain, February 23, 2018. [Photo/Agencies]

    The boss of British Airways' parent company believes the world's aviation industry will face relatively mild turbulence as a result of the ongoing novel coronavirus outbreak.

    Willie Walsh, chief executive officer of the Anglo-Spanish multinational airline holding company International Airlines Group, said he believes the epidemic will have a marginal impact on global travel demand, something he believes the industry is capable of shrugging off.

    "The aviation industry is very robust," Reuters news agency reported him telling journalists from the sidelines of a CAPA aviation summit in Doha, Qatar. "We may see some marginal impact."

    He made the upbeat comment in the wake of dozens of airlines suspending flights into and out of China, where the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus rose to 28,018 on the Chinese mainland as of Wednesday, including 563 deaths.

    Many of the airlines were reacting to edicts from governments, including the United Kingdom's, to avoid all unnecessary travel to the Chinese mainland.

    Walsh said the suspension of BA's flights between London Heathrow and its two main destinations in China-Beijing and Shanghai-equates to around 1 percent of the carrier's overall capacity.

    And, he said, he does not believe fear of the virus will stop people from traveling internationally in the coming months.

    Walsh also noted that the industry is healthy enough to be able to absorb any downturn in China's economy that might result from the impact of the virus.

    Travel to and from China had started to slow ahead of the airlines suspending services. Data from Forwardkeys, which analyzes global aviation capacity, identified a 6.8 percent slump in outbound travel from China during Chinese New Year and a 7.2 percent fall in numbers traveling into China during the same period.

    Reuters said Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive of the International Air Transport Association, or IATA, echoed Walsh's comments, saying: "This industry has demonstrated its ability to overcome these types of difficult events and overcome them successfully."

    Barron's, the US financial magazine, reported on Thursday that investors seemed to share the optimism, as airline stocks bounced back following an initial slump in the immediate aftermath of disruption caused by the virus outbreak.

    The publication said stocks had been buoyed by reports that a breakthrough in the development of a vaccine was imminent.

    Despite the upbeat assessments, Visit Britain, the UK's official tourism body, said there will be an "obvious and immediate knock-on impact" for the tourism industry from the virus outbreak

    Air freight, meanwhile, had a poor 2019 and that trend is likely to continue this year.

    Full-year figures from the IATA for 2019 show a 3.3 percent fall in demand in comparison to 2018, despite capacity increasing by 2.1 percent.

    It was the first fall in air freight volumes since 2012.

    The IATA said the drop was down to weak growth in global trade of just 0.9 percent and slowing GDP growth in manufacturing-intensive economies. It noted the novel coronavirus outbreak will have an impact in the months to come.

    "Trade tensions are at the root of the worst year for air cargo since the end of the Global Financial Crisis in 2009," said de Juniac. "While these are easing, there is little relief in that good news as we are in unknown territory with respect to the eventual impact of the coronavirus on the global economy. With all the restrictions being put in place, it will certainly be a drag on economic growth. And, for sure, 2020 will be another challenging year for the air cargo business."

    The IATA represents 290 airlines that are collectively responsible for around 82 percent of global air traffic.

     

    Most Viewed in 24 Hours
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    日韩亚洲不卡在线视频中文字幕在线观看| 久久久久无码精品| 四虎成人精品国产永久免费无码 | 亚洲av成人无码久久精品| 三级理论中文字幕在线播放| 黄桃AV无码免费一区二区三区| 中文字幕一区日韩在线视频| 天堂网www中文在线| 国产午夜无码视频在线观看| 中文有码vs无码人妻| 在线中文字幕av| 中文字幕人妻丝袜乱一区三区| 国产v亚洲v天堂无码网站| 亚洲啪啪AV无码片| 日韩av无码中文无码电影| 精品久久久无码人妻中文字幕豆芽| 69ZXX少妇内射无码| 无码精品日韩中文字幕| 一夲道无码人妻精品一区二区| 精品久久久无码中文字幕天天 | 中文字幕AV一区中文字幕天堂| 成人无码小视频在线观看| 无码成A毛片免费| 亚洲av成人无码久久精品| 亚洲大尺度无码无码专区| 中文字幕无码久久人妻| 亚洲国产日韩欧美在线a乱码日本中文字幕高清 | 亚洲无码精品浪潮| 无码精品人妻一区| 亚洲AV无码之日韩精品| 无码国内精品久久人妻麻豆按摩 | 成人午夜福利免费无码视频| 精品欧洲AV无码一区二区男男| 人妻无码中文久久久久专区| 未满十八18禁止免费无码网站| 无码国内精品人妻少妇蜜桃视频| 亚洲国产精品无码久久SM| 亚洲AV无码国产丝袜在线观看| 无码专区—VA亚洲V天堂| 精品久久久久久久无码| 久久亚洲av无码精品浪潮|