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Airlines to take major hit from coronavirus outbreak, says IATA

By Josh White

Date: Friday 21 Feb 2020

Airlines to take major hit from coronavirus outbreak, says IATA

(Sharecast News) - The ongoing outbreak of the Covid-19 coronavirus will see the first fall in air travel in more than 10 years, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
According to the airline body, a fall in demand from passengers as a result of the virus would see airlines lose a collective $29.3bn (?22.68bn) in revenues this year.

IATA said it was expecting demand for air travel to fall 4.7% globally in 2020, which would be the first overall annual decline since the global financial crisis, which saw the industry take a hit in 2008 and 2009, the Guardian reported.

Most of those losses would affect airlines in the Asia-Pacific region, the body said, with revenues there falling $27.8bn, and carriers in China bearing the brunt of that.

IATA said domestic airlines in the People's Republic would take a $12.8bn hit, while carriers outside the Asia-Pacific region would see relatively smaller losses of $1.5bn, with the caveat being that "the loss of demand is limited to markets linked to China".

"Airlines are making difficult decisions to cut capacity and in some cases routes," said IATA's director-general and chief executive, Alexandre de Juniac.

"Lower fuel costs will help offset some of the lost revenue, [but] this will be a very tough year for airlines."

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