British Airways' chief executive, Rod Eddington, has said that the combination of SARS, the war in Iraq and a weak economic outlook mean that the global airline industry is facing its toughest crisis in living memory.
He became boss of Boeing's commercial-aircraft division, which he ran for eight years and steered through the violent shocks inflicted on the industry by the slumps in air travel after the terrorist attacks on America in September 2001, the SARS scare and the Iraq war.
The fresh warnings are another blow to the beleaguered tourism industries in Southeast Asia which have already been hit by the impact of the SARS virus, Iraq war and October 12 Bali bombings.
MyTravel, based in Greater Manchester, is struggling in the face of a protracted travel sector downturn triggered by the war in Iraq and the Sars outbreak.
With SARS contained and the Iraq war over (more or less), will people again return to the skies?
McDonald's, an American fast-food chain has said that fear of SARS, and the Iraqi war, have dented sales in Asia, the Middle East and Africa.
On April 9th, the International Air Transport Association said that the SARS outbreak could have a significantly worse impact on the airline industry than the war in Iraq.
The biggest news for business continues to come from outside the business realm: first the war in Iraq, and now the outbreak of the so-called SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) virus.
At the time, both sectors had been hit by the effects of the war in Iraq, a so-so economy and severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS. The latter, a viral illness first reported in Asia, was blamed for 774 deaths in 2003 and whipped up fears that aircraft cabins were prone to contagion.
War, terrorism and SARS may be sending large chunks of the airline industry into bankruptcy, but you wouldn't know it from looking at Dubai-based Emirates Airline.
FORBES: Even during wartime, a Middle Eastern airline thrived.
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