ASIA. With new cases of SARS down to a trickle, Asia’s airports and airlines are seeing the beginning of a recovery in travel – and, hopefully, travel retail spending.
An average of about 200 passenger flights per week have resumed services at stricken Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) in June as the slow recovery from the SARS crisis begins.
The authority said the number of re-instated flights will increase further in July with an additional 270 weekly flight movements already confirmed.
Airlines coming back include Air India, Gulf Air, Mekong Airlines, Pacific Airline and Turkish Airlines.
“We are glad to see that our revitalization package is showing effect. The Airport Authority will continue to work closely with our airline partners to speed up the rate of growth,” said an Airport Authority spokesman.
“The traffic statistics show that the full impact of SARS was reflected in May. The precautionary measures taken by the authority and its business partners to maintain a healthy, safe and secure airport have helped restore confidence on air travel through HKIA,” he said.
Cathay Pacific announced last week that it plans to resume approximately 170 weekly services, and operate at 71% of normal capacity from July, due to expectations of a rise in demand over summer.
In Taiwan, EVA Airways Corp said it has decided to gradually resume flights to Japanese destinations, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo from 25 June, in line with recovering travel demand. These routes had been suspended between 1 and 30 June due to a drastic decline in passenger loads as a result of SARS. The company has also decided to gradually restore the number of flights to Tokyo to two per day from one currently.
In China, Japanese tourism is expected to return following the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ lifting of travel advisories to nine destinations in China, in the wake of a similar move by the World Health Organization. Beijing, though, remains the subject of a travel advisory.
In the US, United Airlines, the country’s second-biggest airline, announced on Friday it will add 54 daily flights in July because of seasonal demand in the US and a rise in travel to Asia as SARS concerns ease. United (whose inflight sales contract is currently out to tender) has posted a slump in Asian travel since the health crisis escalated.
