- Title: IATA urges governments to support airlines in wake of U.S. travel ban
- Date: 13th March 2020
- Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (MARCH 13, 2020) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF GENEVA AIRPORT TARMAC EASYJET PLANE ARRIVING ON TARMAC INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) HEADQUARTERS IATA LOGO AND SIGN IATA DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, WORKING AT HIS DESK PLANES MODELS IN DE JUNIAC OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, SAYING: "If the drop is as significant, as deep as we are seeing now, and if it lasts for more than two or three months, we will have, we will see some difficulties among airlines and some of them will probably have financial difficulty, it will probably lead to a further consolidation. But that is, you know, that's the future. We have to focus, you know, on everything we can do now to help our industry. So, we need the governments to act strongly and quickly and now." PLANES MODELS IN DE JUNIAC OFFICE DE JUNIAC WORKING AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, SAYING: "We have given, you know, a range of estimate of the loss of revenues that will be the result of the coronavirus crisis. It goes from $63 billion loss of revenues up to $113 billion loss of revenues. If you add on top of that - but it was before the restrictions were made. If you add the restrictions that have been implemented in various parts of the world and especially over the Atlantic, we should probably be at the highest part of the range and probably above that highest limit." VARIOUS OF DE JUNIAC WORKING AT HIS DESK (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, SAYING: "We are asking, you know, all the governments who have put restrictions - and the U.S. government particularly - you know, to review the decision permanently to see whether they can alleviate or waive that decision - the sooner the better. Additionally, we are asking governments, you know, to permanently assess the economic consequences of these type of measures, you know, to be conscious of the negative impact it might have not only on our industry, not only, but on the whole economy." DE JUNIAC TALKING TO JOURNALIST (SOUNDBITE) (English) THE INTERNATIONAL AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION (IATA) DIRECTOR GENERAL AND CEO, ALEXANDRE DE JUNIAC, SAYING: "We understand that for passengers it's difficult. But we are in such a difficult situation, you know. We have such a drop in traffic and empty aircraft, that we are obliged and it's strongly against our will, you know, to cancel flights pretty quickly in advance. So, we have asked to reduce this delay (period)." PLANES ON TARMAC VARIOUS OF AIR CANADA ARRIVING ON TARMAC
- Embargoed: 27th March 2020 12:00
- Keywords: Flybe IATA U.S. travel restrictions air transport airline industry airlines
- Location: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- City: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
- Country: Switzerland
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA001C4VZCCN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: If the coronavirus crisis lasts another two or three months, it could force carriers to collapse and spark more consolidation in the beleaguered airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) chief told Reuters on Friday (March 13).
The airlines industry body called on governments on Thursday (March 12) to support transatlantic carriers hit by cash-flow problems due to the coronavirus crisis by offering measures such as credit lines and tax breaks.
IATA Director General and CEO, Alexandre de Juniac, asked whether he feared that other carriers would follow Britain's Flybe which went under last week, said that it would depend on the duration of the crisis.
"If the drop is as significant, as deep as we are seeing now, and if it lasts for more than two or three months, we will see some difficulties among airlines," he said. "Some of them will probably have financial difficulty, it will probably lead to a further consolidation," added de Juniac, a former Air France-KLM group chief executive.
The fallout from the coronavirus spread across the Pacific on Friday, with Australian travel firms issuing profit warnings and Japanese carriers cutting capacity, while U.S. airlines rushed to cut flights to Europe in the wake of new travel restrictions.
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