A departure board at Melbourne Airport shows cancelled flights to China. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
The Australian
12:03PM Feb 03, 2020
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ROBYN IRONSIDE @ironsider
Australia`s tourism industry has backed a federal travel ban on China to prevent the spread of coronavirus, despite an estimated loss of A $33 million a day for these tour operators.
The ban came into effect immediately on Sunday, with the number of Chinese arriving from Melbourne plunging from 5,000 to 700 as the airline cancelled seven of its 13 scheduled flights from China.
Four other flights from China Airlines to Sydney were also cancelled, with flights to Adelaide and Perth and Brisbane chopped off - with just 70 people on board the flight from Shanghai arriving in Brisbane on Sunday morning.
Simon Westaway, executive president of the Australian Tourism Council, said a sudden ban on Chinese tourists would have a significant impact on the entire tourism industry and needed to take steps to develop a recovery plan.
"The Chinese market is a market for 1.5 million visitors a year for Australia, bigger than New Zealand, generating more than $12 billion a year in tourism revenue," Mr. Westaway said.
"Our industry will need to take a turn around how to regain business and sustain and grow it in the long term. "
He said the ban imposed by government meant Australia would not see inbound visitors from China for two weeks.
Mr. Westaway said:" All we have to do is work very constructively and make sure we are as quick as the response of government [on Saturday], and we have to be quick." "
"This is crucial to economic and to the social composition of many of our communities. "
Margy Osmond, chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum, said the industry faced an "unprecedented period" in every respect....
"Unfortunately, the impact will be felt across Australia over the next few months," she said," but we are a resilient industry that will be stronger than ever after this challenging period. "
Only australian residents, permanent residents and their immediate family members can enter australia under the government travel ban, and all must be quarantined for two weeks upon arrival.
In response, China Southern Airlines canceled almost all flights from Guangzhou on Sunday, followed by Xiamen Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Hainan Airlines and Tianjin Airlines.
China Eastern and Air China provided some of its flight services on Sunday but are expected to reassess its flights every day.
Qantas will stick with plans to suspend its Chinese flights from next Sunday. The airline`s booking website shows several vacancies on flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Australia.
Air new zealand has canceled its shanghai to auckland route ahead of schedule because travel restrictions at government make flights extremely challenging in logistics.
What is unclear is the impact of the virus crisis on cargo flights between Australia and China. The Home Office was unable to answer the question on Sunday.
Guangzhou-sydney is one of the top 10 urban air lines, according to the infrastructure, transport and regional economic bureau, with shipments up nearly 29,000 tonnes in the year to october.
CANCELLED CHINA FLIGHTS AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
AIR CANADA Air Canada said on January 28 it was cancelling select flights to China.
AIR FRANCE Air France said on January 30 it suspended all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until February 9.
AIR INDIA Air India said it was cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from January 31 to February 14.
AIR NEW ZEALAND Air New Zealand said on February 1 it will suspend its Auckland-Shanghai service from February 9 to March 29 due to travel restrictions affecting crew and a decline in forward bookings.
AIR SEOUL South Korean budget carrier Air Seoul said on January 28 it had suspended all flights to China.
AIR TANZANIA Tanzania’s state-owned carrier said it would postpone its maiden flights to China. It had planned to begin charter flights to China in February.
AMERICAN AIRLINES American Airlines said it will cancel flights to Beijing and Shanghai starting January 31, and run through March 27, though it will continue to fly to Hong Kong.
BRITISH AIRWAYS BA said on January 30 it had cancelled all flights to mainland China for a month.
CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific said it would progressively reduce capacity to and from mainland China by 50 per cent or more from January 30 to the end of March.
DELTA AIR LINES Delta Air Lines accelerated earlier announced suspensions: the last China-bound flights will leave on February 1, and the last returning flights from China will leave China on February 2.
EGYPTAIR Egypt’s flag carrier said on January 30 it would suspend all flights to and from China starting February 1.
EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES El Al Israel Airlines said on January 30 it was suspending flights to Beijing until March 25. Israel’s Health Ministry said it will not allow flights from China to land at its airports.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES The African carrier on January 30 denied reports it had suspended all flights to China. The airline’s statement contradicted its passenger call centre, which told Reuters earlier in the day that flights to China had been suspended.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said passenger flights between Beijing and Nagoya, in Japan, had been temporarily suspended due to low travel demand.
FINNAIR Finland’s Finnair said it was cancelling all flights to mainland China between February 6 and February 29 and to Guangzhou between February 5 and March 29.
HAINAN AIRLINES China’s Hainan Airlines suspended its flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing from February 7 until March 27, Budapest Airport said on its Facebook page.
KENYA AIRWAYS Kenya Airways said on January 31 it has suspended all flights to China until further notice.
LION AIR Indonesia’s Lion Air Group said on January 29 it would suspend all flights to China from February. The airline has suspended six flights from several Indonesian cities to China so far and will suspend the rest next month. LOT POLISH AIRLINES Polish carrier LOT said it had decided to temporarily suspend its flights to Beijing until February 9.
LUFTHANSA Germany’s Lufthansa said on January 29 it was suspending Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines flights to and from China until February 9. The airline continues to fly to Hong Kong, but it will stop taking bookings for flights to mainland China until the end of February.
PHILIPPINES AIRLINES Philippine Airlines said it would cut the number of flights between Manila and China by more than 50 per cent, starting this month. It would continue to serve Filipinos and Chinese nationals returning from the Lunar New Year holidays. QANTAS AIRWAYS Qantas said on February 1 it was suspending direct flights to mainland China. The Australian national carrier’s direct flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai will be halted from February 9 until March 29.
QATAR AIRWAYS Qatar Airways said on February 1 it will suspend flights to mainland China from Monday until further notice.
ROYAL AIR MAROC Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has temporarily suspended its direct flights to China, the company said on January 30. RAM had on January 16 launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing.
RUSSIA All Russian airlines, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot, will stop flying to China, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said.
RWANDAIR Rwanda carrier RwandAir has halted flights to and from China until further notice, the airline said in a statement on Friday. The decision will be reviewed later in February, it said.
SAS Nordic airline SAS said on January 30 it has decided to suspend all flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing from January 31 until February 9.
SCOOT Singapore airline Scoot said it was suspending all flights between Singapore and China from February 8, media reported.
SHANGHAI AIRLINES Shanghai Airlines said on January 31 it would suspend its Chengdu-Budapest flight between February 4 and March 28 and its Xi’an-Budapest flight between February 6 and March 26 according to a statement on the website of the Budapest Airport operator. The airline’s Shanghai-Budapest flight is unaffected.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES Singapore Airlines Ltd said on January 31 it would reduce capacity on some of its routes to mainland China in February. The cuts include flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir. Its budget carrier Scoot is also cutting back on flights to China.
TURKISH AIRLINES Turkey’s flag carrier said on January 30 it would decrease frequency on scheduled flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xian between February 5 and February 29.
TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES Turkmenistan Airlines, the Central Asian nation’s state carrier, said on February 1 it had suspended flights to and from Beijing.
UNITED AIRLINES Chicago-based United announced cancellations, saying last flights out of mainland China will be February 5, running through March 28. United had previously suspended 24 US flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai between February 1 and February 8 because of a significant drop in demand.
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE UPS has cancelled 22 China flights, as a result of the Wuhan quarantines and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday, UPS Chief Executive David Abney said on January 30. He did not specify how many flights cancellations were due to the virus.
VIETJET Vietnam’s Vietjet will suspend all flights to and from China from February 1, the company said on January 31. Vietnam Airlines will suspend some flights to China.
VIETNAM AIRLINES Vietnam Airlines will suspend its flights to destinations in China next week over coronavirus concerns, the company said on Friday.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC Virgin Atlantic said on January 30 it would suspend its daily operations to Shanghai for two weeks from February 2. It cited declining demand for flights and the safety of its customers and staff.
*Source: Reuters
