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Dozens of airlines have suspended flights to China in response
to the worsening health emergency that has killed close to 500,
nearly all in the country, while a meeting of international
aviation officials in Singapore was cancelled.
"The aviation industry is very robust. We may see some marginal
impact," IAG CEO Willie Walsh told reporters in Doha at a CAPA
aviation summit.
British Airways has suspended flights between London Heathrow
and Beijing and Shanghai, which Walsh said represented around 1%
of the airline's capacity.
There had been no impact on the group's other airlines,
including Ireland's Aer Lingus and Spain's Iberia, as they do
not fly to China.
Walsh, who steps down in March, said he did not expect the virus
to deter people from travelling. Asked if the industry was
healthy enough to absorb a downturn in China's economy, he said:
"without question" adding that airlines were more capable of
responding to economic shocks than in the past.
Qatar Airways, which owns a minority stake in IAG, has also
cancelled passenger flights to China, though its chief executive
said that was because other countries had placed entry
restrictions on those who had recently visited China.
Akbar al-Baker said that made it difficult to staff China
flights because those staff would not be able to operate flights
to some other countries for some time afterwards.
A global airline lobby, the International Air Transport
Association said it was too early to say how much the virus
would impact the industry this year but is confident of a
recovery.
"This industry has demonstrated its ability to overcome these
type of difficult events and overcome them successfully," Chief
Executive Alexandre de Juniac told Reuters.
(Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Editing by Kirsten Donovan and
Philippa Fletcher)
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