Swine flu and SQ

[flyguy]

wow one thing after another - just when the world's economy seems to have bottomed up and struggling to lift - now this Mexico Swine flu possible pandemic will definitely affect air travel and results in lowering passengers' traffic as only those who really need to travel will do so. And because Mexico and USare so close and that US have come down with some of its citizens getting down with swine flu - its a bad time for airlines. Even SQ would suffer some drops in loads to US and possibly Europe, which can mean more flights reductions n idle aircraft.

[taipeiflyer]

wow one thing after another - just when the world's economy seems to have bottomed up and struggling to lift - now this Mexico Swine flu possible pandemic will definitely affect air travel and results in lowering passengers' traffic as only those who really need to travel will do so. And because Mexico and USare so close and that US have come down with some of its citizens getting down with swine flu - its a bad time for airlines. Even SQ would suffer some drops in loads to US and possibly Europe, which can mean more flights reductions n idle aircraft.

i think you are worrying a little too much to be honest.... next time i am flying, that is going to be maybe the last thing i am thinking about.

[sqdazz]

i think you are worrying a little too much to be honest.... next time i am flying, that is going to be maybe the last thing i am thinking about.

agreed, but the media is making it very big news today... its bound to spark a few fears in some. people are already out buying masks etc

[SQ225]

Well if it manages to make its way to Asia, we could see the effects of SARS all over again, and in conjunction with the financial crisis, it could mean even tougher times for many industries. So I wouldn't disregard this issue just yet taipeiflyer. Lets see how it develops first, still early days ..

[LHR]

After the SARS crisis, many Asian countries are now extra careful with any risk of pandemic flu. I know that hospitals in Singapore will be moving to "Amber" alert shortly. There is also stockpiling of Tamiflu and other antivirals (which haven't really been shown to be effective).

Of course, this is all precautionary for now.......

[FlyBoy]

Yep things just start to show SOME signs of recovery, and then BAM.

Pig flu..........

The USA Dow Jones early trading is showing about a 2% fall when it opens in a few hours.

Will be interesting to watch how the Dow moves later today....

Expect it to fall about 2-3% by days end I think and then Aussie/Asian markets to follow.

Yet another uncertain period, and the amount of media coverage here in Australia today, makes alot of people panic.

[bryan_sq]

they start screening passengers for "flu like symptoms" in Australian airports this evening (27/4), also going to make captains report any people who are experiencing the dreaded "flu like symptopms"

[quik!]

Swine flu arrives in Europe as emergency health summit announced

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/lif...cle6178618.ece

[flyguy]

there will definitely be some effects on airlines' loads as govts will issue a travel advisory for people not tp fly to Mexico and US unnecessarily and includes pax from Asia to the Americas.

[TerryK]

Europe Urges Citizens to Avoid U.S. and Mexico Travel

This will seriously impact all airlines.

Hoping to head off a global pandemic of swine flu that has surfaced in North America, the European Union’s health commissioner on Monday urged Europeans to avoid traveling to the United States or Mexico if doing so is not essential.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/he...e.html?_r=1&hp

I suspect many Asian countries may follow with warnings. A little over reaction, if you ask me.

[sqdazz]

Thailand have already brought out thermal scanners at BKK today

[SQflyergirl]

Arriving into T3 today there were scanning machines set up to measure body temperatures as you went down the escalators to immigration

[Kyo]

they start screening passengers for "flu like symptoms" in Australian airports this evening (27/4), also going to make captains report any people who are experiencing the dreaded "flu like symptopms"

Great, just great! Hope the queue's not gonna be too long in MEL later this week.

On that note - I saw SATS (not SQ, apologies) setting up three thermal scanners at immigration (arrivals) in T2 at 11PM last night. Presume all the other terminals also.

[jhm]

This will seriously impact all airlines.

Hoping to head off a global pandemic of swine flu that has surfaced in North America, the European Union’s health commissioner on Monday urged Europeans to avoid traveling to the United States or Mexico if doing so is not essential.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/he...e.html?_r=1&hp

I suspect many Asian countries may follow with warnings. A little over reaction, if you ask me.

It seems to be mis-reporting by the NYT. Reuters/AFP/BBC have reported it correctly in that (my emphasis):

"Personally, I'd try to avoid non-essential travel to the areas which are reported to be in the centre of the cluster in order to minimise the personal risk and to reduce the potential risk to spread the infection to other people," EU Health Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou said in a recorded statement issued in Brussels.

[milehighj]

If one listens to the BBC World Service reporting, the real statistics have been dumbed-down by the Mexican authorities.