Air India Extends Suspension Of Its China, Hong Kong Flights Till 30 June Due To Coronavirus Outbreak

National passenger carrier Air India has extended the suspension period for its Delhi-Shanghai and Delhi-Hong Kong services till 30 June, owing to the outbreak of deadly Coronavirus (COVID-19).

Earlier, Air India had cancelled its flights to Shanghai from 31 January to 14 February and to Hong Kong from 7 February until 28 March.

Many international airlines have either reduced or suspended their operations to China.

According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), COVID-19 is expected to cause a 13 per cent full year loss of passenger demand for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region.

Considering that growth for the region''s airlines was forecast to be 4.8 per cent, the net impact will be an 8.2 per cent full-year contraction compared to 2019 demand levels, the IATA said.

"In this scenario, that would translate into a $27.8 billion revenue loss in 2020 for carriers in the Asia-Pacific region - the bulk of which would be borne by carriers registered in China, with $12.8 billion lost in the China domestic market alone," IATA said in a statement.

"In the same scenario, carriers outside Asia-Pacific are forecast to bear a revenue loss of $1.5 billion, assuming the loss of demand is limited to markets linked to China."

Consequently, the total global lost revenue will come to $29.3 billion and represent a 4.7 per cent hit to global demand.

The new virus, which is of the same genre as SARS of 2003, was first reported in WHO Disease outbreak news on 5 January in China's Wuhan. Till now it has progressively spread across many countries.

However, the new virus has spread at a much faster pace than the 2003 SARS epidemic.

In a bid to curb the spread of the virus, Chinese authorities have closed transportation services across many parts of the country, including Wuhan.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)