The new coronavirus has been declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization, as the outbreak continues to spread outside China.
Aviation industry is making preparation for the disruptions as the mysterious coronavirus spreading around the world poses a “substantial” risk to global air travel and the aerospace sector. The effects are already being seen in flight cancellations which could cause financial impact on airlines.
British Airways and Indonesia’s Lion Air said on Wednesday they would halt all flights to mainland China, and American Airlines said it would suspend flights to Shanghai and Beijing from Los Angeles, citing a significant decline in demand for travel.
In the meantime, Thai Airways will be fumigating its aircraft arriving from China and other risk areas to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Also, Cathay Pacific flight and cabin crew will be allowed to wear facemasks, while China Airlines will not provide inflight services on certain flights, and several airlines will allow free flight changes on services bound for China and Hong Kong.
WHAT IS CORONAVIRUS?
Coronaviruses are a group of viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, the viruses cause respiratory infections which are typically mild including the common cold but rarer forms like SARS and MERS can be lethal. A new coronavirus, designated 2019-nCoV, was first identified in Wuhan, the capital of China’s Hubei province, after people developed pneumonia without a clear cause and for which existing vaccines or treatments were not effective. The virus has shown evidence of human-to-human transmission. Until today at least 213 people have died from the virus in China.
BBC’s graph of virus outbreak in Chinese regions from 20 January 2020
The current virus has drawn comparison to the severe acute respiratory syndrome, or SARS, outbreak in 2003, a natural connection because both are caused by a coronavirus. SARS had a higher fatality rate — about 10%, compared to 3% from the current virus — which made it “an economic sledgehammer to airlines in the Asia-Pacific region,” the Canaccord report said.
As a result of SARS, which ultimately infected around 8,100 people, the report said revenue per passenger kilometer — otherwise known as RPK, and also measured in revenue per passenger mile, or RPM — fell by 35% at the worst of the outbreak, and led to an 8% decline in RPKs in the region for all of 2003.
The incubation period for humans (the time when a person has the disease without presenting symptoms) ranges from one to 14 days. This, say health officials, increases the threat greatly as a person may not know they have the infection for quite some time. During this incubation period, the unknowingly-infected are still able to spread the virus as they go normally about their daily lives.
This coronavirus stands in stark contrast to Sars and Ebola, where the infected are only contagious once symptoms appear.
Therefore, it is extremely important, especially while traveling, to practice healthy habits. This includes protocols most people would undertake for general cleanliness including:
- Washing your hands frequently
- Avoid touching your face
- Practice proper coughing etiquette (into your elbow or armpit), not coughing into the environment.
- More specific to air travel, consider bringing your own wipes on the plane to wipe down seatbacks, tray tables, and armrests – and perhaps the area around the window where a passenger would lean their head.
Airlines and aviation industry can definitely use past outbreaks as frameworks to prepare their companies, crew members and passengers to minimize the risk of coronavirus.
