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
澳大利亚的旅游业支持联邦政府禁止对中国的旅行禁令，以防止冠状病毒的传播，尽管据估计这些旅游业经营者每天因此损失3300万澳元。
该禁令在周日立即生效，随着航空公司取消了从中国出发的13班定期航班中的7班，从墨尔本入境的中国人数从5000人暴跌至700人。
中国航空公司飞往悉尼的另外四趟航班也被取消，去往阿德莱德，珀斯和布里斯班的航班也被砍掉——在布里斯本，周日早上抵达的来自上海的班机上只有70人。
澳大利亚旅游业理事会执行总裁Simon Westaway表示，突然禁止中国游客会对整个旅游业产生重大影响，需要采取措施制定恢复计划。
“中国市场对澳大利亚来说是一个每年150万游客的市场，比新西兰还大，每年产生超过120亿澳元的旅游业收入，” Westaway先生说。
“我们的行业将需要围绕着如何重新获得生意以及长期维持和发展生意进行转折。”
他说，政府实施的禁令意味着两周内澳大利亚将不会看到来自中国的入境游客。
Westaway先生说：“我们要做的就是非常富有建设性地开展工作，并确保就像政府（在周六）的反应那么非常敏捷一样，我们也必须反应敏捷。”
“这对经济至关重要，对我们许多社区的社会构成也至关重要。”
旅游和运输论坛首席执行官Margy Osmond表示，该行业在每个方面都面临着一个“空前的时期”。
“不幸的是，在接下来的几个月中，澳大利亚各地将感受到这种影响，”她说 “但是我们是一个有韧性的行业，它将像过去那样，经过这个充满挑战的时期比以往更强大。”
根据政府旅行禁令，只有澳大利亚居民，永久居民和他们的直系亲属能入境澳大利亚，而且所有人士都必须在抵达后隔离两个星期。
作为回应，中国南方航空周日几乎取消了从广州出发的所有航班，厦门航空，四川航空，海南航空和天津航空也纷纷效仿。
中国东方航空和中国国际航空公司在周日提供了部分航班服务，但预计每天都会对其航班进行重新评估。
澳航（Qantas）将坚持从下周日起暂停其中国航班的计划。该航空公司的预订网站显示，从北京和上海飞往澳大利亚的航班上有几个空位。
新西兰航空提前取消了其上海至奥克兰航线，原因是政府的旅行限制使航班在物流上极具挑战性。
尚不清楚的是，这场病毒危机对澳大利亚和中国之间的货运航班产生的影响。内政部无法在周日对此问题提供答案。
来自基础设施，运输和区域经济局的数据显示，广州-悉尼是十大城市空运线路之一，截止到十月的一年中运量增加了近29,000吨。
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
