A departure board at Melbourne Airport shows cancelled flights to China. Picture: Andrew Henshaw
The Australian
12:03PM Feb 03, 2020
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ROBYN IRONSIDE @ironsider
澳大利亞的旅遊業支持聯邦政府禁止對中國的旅行禁令，以防止冠狀病毒的傳播，盡管據估計這些旅遊業經營者每天因此損失3300萬澳元。
該禁令在週日立即生效，隨着航空公司取消了從中國出髮的13班定期航班中的7班，從墨爾本入境的中國人數從5000人暴跌至700人。
中國航空公司飛往悉尼的另外四趟航班也被取消，去往阿德萊德，珀斯和布裹斯班的航班也被砍掉——在布裹斯本，週日早上抵達的來自上海的班機上只有70人。
澳大利亞旅遊業理事會執行總裁Simon Westaway表示，突然禁止中國遊客會對整個旅遊業產生重大影響，需要采取措施制定恢復計劃。
“中國市場對澳大利亞來說是一個每年150萬遊客的市場，比新西蘭還大，每年產生超過120億澳元的旅遊業收入，” Westaway先生說。
“我們的行業將需要圍繞着如何重新獲得生意以及長期維持和髮展生意進行轉折。”
他說，政府實施的禁令意味着兩週內澳大利亞將不會看到來自中國的入境遊客。
Westaway先生說：“我們要做的就是非常富有建設性地開展工作，並確保就像政府（在週六）的反應那麼非常敏捷一樣，我們也必須反應敏捷。”
“這對經濟至關重要，對我們許多社區的社會構成也至關重要。”
旅遊和運輸論壇首席執行官Margy Osmond表示，該行業在每個方面都面臨着一個“空前的時期”。
“不幸的是，在接下來的幾個月中，澳大利亞各地將感受到這種影響，”她說 “但是我們是一個有韌性的行業，它將像過去那樣，經過這個充滿挑戰的時期比以往更強大。”
根據政府旅行禁令，只有澳大利亞居民，永久居民和他們的直係親屬能入境澳大利亞，而且所有人士都必須在抵達後隔離兩個星期。
作為回應，中國南方航空週日幾乎取消了從廣州出髮的所有航班，廈門航空，四川航空，海南航空和天津航空也紛紛效仿。
中國東方航空和中國國際航空公司在週日提供了部分航班服務，但預計每天都會對其航班進行重新評估。
澳航（Qantas）將堅持從下週日起暫停其中國航班的計劃。該航空公司的預訂網站顯示，從北京和上海飛往澳大利亞的航班上有幾個空位。
新西蘭航空提前取消了其上海至奧克蘭航線，原因是政府的旅行限制使航班在物流上極具挑戰性。
尚不清楚的是，這場病毒危機對澳大利亞和中國之間的貨運航班產生的影響。內政部無法在週日對此問題提供答案。
來自基礎設施，運輸和區域經濟局的數據顯示，廣州-悉尼是十大城市空運線路之一，截止到十月的一年中運量增加了近29,000噸。
CANCELLED CHINA FLIGHTS AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK
AIR CANADA Air Canada said on January 28 it was cancelling select flights to China.
AIR FRANCE Air France said on January 30 it suspended all scheduled flights to and from mainland China until February 9.
AIR INDIA Air India said it was cancelling its Mumbai-Delhi-Shanghai flight from January 31 to February 14.
AIR NEW ZEALAND Air New Zealand said on February 1 it will suspend its Auckland-Shanghai service from February 9 to March 29 due to travel restrictions affecting crew and a decline in forward bookings.
AIR SEOUL South Korean budget carrier Air Seoul said on January 28 it had suspended all flights to China.
AIR TANZANIA Tanzania’s state-owned carrier said it would postpone its maiden flights to China. It had planned to begin charter flights to China in February.
AMERICAN AIRLINES American Airlines said it will cancel flights to Beijing and Shanghai starting January 31, and run through March 27, though it will continue to fly to Hong Kong.
BRITISH AIRWAYS BA said on January 30 it had cancelled all flights to mainland China for a month.
CATHAY PACIFIC AIRWAYS Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific said it would progressively reduce capacity to and from mainland China by 50 per cent or more from January 30 to the end of March.
DELTA AIR LINES Delta Air Lines accelerated earlier announced suspensions: the last China-bound flights will leave on February 1, and the last returning flights from China will leave China on February 2.
EGYPTAIR Egypt’s flag carrier said on January 30 it would suspend all flights to and from China starting February 1.
EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES El Al Israel Airlines said on January 30 it was suspending flights to Beijing until March 25. Israel’s Health Ministry said it will not allow flights from China to land at its airports.
ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES The African carrier on January 30 denied reports it had suspended all flights to China. The airline’s statement contradicted its passenger call centre, which told Reuters earlier in the day that flights to China had been suspended.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways said passenger flights between Beijing and Nagoya, in Japan, had been temporarily suspended due to low travel demand.
FINNAIR Finland’s Finnair said it was cancelling all flights to mainland China between February 6 and February 29 and to Guangzhou between February 5 and March 29.
HAINAN AIRLINES China’s Hainan Airlines suspended its flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing from February 7 until March 27, Budapest Airport said on its Facebook page.
KENYA AIRWAYS Kenya Airways said on January 31 it has suspended all flights to China until further notice.
LION AIR Indonesia’s Lion Air Group said on January 29 it would suspend all flights to China from February. The airline has suspended six flights from several Indonesian cities to China so far and will suspend the rest next month. LOT POLISH AIRLINES Polish carrier LOT said it had decided to temporarily suspend its flights to Beijing until February 9.
LUFTHANSA Germany’s Lufthansa said on January 29 it was suspending Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines flights to and from China until February 9. The airline continues to fly to Hong Kong, but it will stop taking bookings for flights to mainland China until the end of February.
PHILIPPINES AIRLINES Philippine Airlines said it would cut the number of flights between Manila and China by more than 50 per cent, starting this month. It would continue to serve Filipinos and Chinese nationals returning from the Lunar New Year holidays. QANTAS AIRWAYS Qantas said on February 1 it was suspending direct flights to mainland China. The Australian national carrier’s direct flights from Sydney to Beijing and Sydney to Shanghai will be halted from February 9 until March 29.
QATAR AIRWAYS Qatar Airways said on February 1 it will suspend flights to mainland China from Monday until further notice.
ROYAL AIR MAROC Moroccan airline Royal Air Maroc (RAM) has temporarily suspended its direct flights to China, the company said on January 30. RAM had on January 16 launched a direct air route with three flights weekly between its Casablanca hub and Beijing.
RUSSIA All Russian airlines, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot, will stop flying to China, Deputy Prime Minister Tatiana Golikova said.
RWANDAIR Rwanda carrier RwandAir has halted flights to and from China until further notice, the airline said in a statement on Friday. The decision will be reviewed later in February, it said.
SAS Nordic airline SAS said on January 30 it has decided to suspend all flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing from January 31 until February 9.
SCOOT Singapore airline Scoot said it was suspending all flights between Singapore and China from February 8, media reported.
SHANGHAI AIRLINES Shanghai Airlines said on January 31 it would suspend its Chengdu-Budapest flight between February 4 and March 28 and its Xi’an-Budapest flight between February 6 and March 26 according to a statement on the website of the Budapest Airport operator. The airline’s Shanghai-Budapest flight is unaffected.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES Singapore Airlines Ltd said on January 31 it would reduce capacity on some of its routes to mainland China in February. The cuts include flights to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Xiamen and Chongqing, some of which are flown by regional arm SilkAir. Its budget carrier Scoot is also cutting back on flights to China.
TURKISH AIRLINES Turkey’s flag carrier said on January 30 it would decrease frequency on scheduled flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xian between February 5 and February 29.
TURKMENISTAN AIRLINES Turkmenistan Airlines, the Central Asian nation’s state carrier, said on February 1 it had suspended flights to and from Beijing.
UNITED AIRLINES Chicago-based United announced cancellations, saying last flights out of mainland China will be February 5, running through March 28. United had previously suspended 24 US flights to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai between February 1 and February 8 because of a significant drop in demand.
UNITED PARCEL SERVICE UPS has cancelled 22 China flights, as a result of the Wuhan quarantines and normal manufacturing closures due to the Lunar New Year holiday, UPS Chief Executive David Abney said on January 30. He did not specify how many flights cancellations were due to the virus.
VIETJET Vietnam’s Vietjet will suspend all flights to and from China from February 1, the company said on January 31. Vietnam Airlines will suspend some flights to China.
VIETNAM AIRLINES Vietnam Airlines will suspend its flights to destinations in China next week over coronavirus concerns, the company said on Friday.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC Virgin Atlantic said on January 30 it would suspend its daily operations to Shanghai for two weeks from February 2. It cited declining demand for flights and the safety of its customers and staff.
*Source: Reuters
