(Corrects Feb. 5 story to remove erroneous reference to
non-British Airways IAG airlines not flying to China in
paragraph five)
By Alexander Cornwell
DOHA, Feb 5 (Reuters) - The coronavirus epidemic will have a
only a marginal impact on global travel demand and the airline
industry is healthy enough to absorb any economic slowdown in
China, the chief executive of British Airways parent IAG
said on Wednesday.
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.
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,
Philippa Fletcher and David Evans)