China, Coronavirus and Economics
As the close of bell on trading in wall street the spread of Corona Virus causes concern. Stocks dropped 100 points with more growing fears at the end of Thursday 13 February. We are in a world of hurt from the virus to economics as the airline industry is severely affected. Imports too are feeling the affect.
All major carries in the US and foreign airlines have put the brakes on flights to many areas affected. Macau International Airport is operating only a fraction of flights compared to its normal operations. Many other airports are affected like Shanghai Pudong International Airport. Looking over at our international division that shows flights from various Asian and China airports affected.
Long term affects many airlines USA to Asian airlines like Cathay Pacific to Hong Kong Express. and many others to name. Even today flights to Germany recently came to a halt like the flights to Berlin. Global ramifications in the light of the Corona Virus to try and quarantine those areas and protect others. Sure, frustrations will grow both economically and financially for many airlines. Health and safety come’s first for which something of this magnitude was not expected or considered in any company’s financial adjustments.
There will be a fallout in the airline industry for those that already operate under tight profit margins. Long term adjustments need to be made. Cathay Pacific recently asked for its employees to take a three-week unpaid vacation to help adjust all the flight cancelations due to the Corona Virus. Last year Hong Kong was affected by many demonstrations where up until September 2019 affected the airport itself.
Across the globe signs of this have affected people’s perception and fears. You can see many wearing masks at airports like at Los Angeles International where we just came from. All major airports are taking the necessary precautions to protect people coming from other parts of the world. Tom Bradley terminal was a sight that even us the seasoned traveler realize the severity of peoples concerns.
To date the Olympics that are scheduled to take place July 24 thru August 9 are not affected and still plan to go ahead. This was announced today despite other sports before those date like some Golf and racing events earlier this year postponed until further notice. Once global control and federal public health agencies give the green light. Then and only then will airlines be able to start scheduling future flights. Not until then and governments give the all clear can we expect any normal operational flights. Now might be a good time for many airlines to re group and anticipate and modified schedule or fleet for capacity. No matter what the situation at least Etihad Airways before all this had announced over a week ago it as selling 38 of its 114 aircraft in fleet to try and become profitable again. Maybe some airlines feeling the affect of the current situation need to take some advice and cutback.
Source Fire and Aviation TV / Shared Authorization to Airline Adviser 02/13/20