The war in Iraq could easily add US$10 billion to world airline losses and deepen what is already the worst crisis in the history of commercial aviation, the International Air Transport Association said on Saturday.
In the gloomiest forecast yet of the impact of the war on the industry, the association said it expects international passenger travel to drop 15 percent to 20 percent during the war, depending on the region of the world.
The IATA's forecast was the latest evidence of how devastating the outbreak of war in Iraq is for a key part of the global economy. Airlines have already reported accumulated losses of US$30 billion since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the US reduced air travel.
During the war, many companies have ordered employees to only take essential business trips while tourists worldwide are canceling or postponing air travel altogether.
International bookings have plunged, particularly in the US, where many people are choosing to stay home.
Airlines all over the world have been curtailing schedules, especially international routes to and from the Middle East, and many have had to cut jobs to stay in business.
Three US airlines are already in bankruptcy protection -- UAL Corp's United Airlines, US Airways Group Inc and Hawaiian Airlines Inc -- while the world's largest airline, AMR Corp's American, is also teetering on the brink.
"The people who've always relied on American to get them to that business meeting in New York or that family reunion in Los Angeles are instead buying no-frills tickets on the Internet or worse still -- deciding to stay home," American Chief Executive Officer Donald Carty told employees in Chicago on Friday. "On top of all this, our nation has taken action against Iraq."
As the US-led war on Iraq began this week, four of the top six US airlines -- American, United, Continental Airlines
and Northwest Airlines Corp -- announced cuts in schedules. A host of major airlines in Europe and Asia also have curtailed international schedules.
United, Northwest, Continental and Air Canada have gone even further, imposing job cuts or temporary furloughs of employees. While the job losses by Air Canada and Continental were not just the result of the Iraq war, both United and Northwest cited the war as a major factor in their respective cuts.
Of the top six US carriers, only Delta Air Lines Inc and Southwest Airlines Inc have not made cuts since the start of the war. Spokesmen for each airline declined to comment Saturday on whether any job or flight-schedule cuts are planned.
Southwest, a low-fare carrier considered one of the most efficient in the industry, was also the only major US carrier not to make cuts after Sept. 11, 2001.
Governments must help airlines tap financial markets for cash and allow them to merge to survive the crisis, IATA Director General Giovanni Bisingnani said on Saturday.
"We need the economies of scale that mergers and acquisitions can provide," he said.
Many countries, especially in Europe, have national ownership restrictions on airlines. Bisingnani said those restraints must go.
After Sept. 11, the US government established an emergency loan program for airlines, but has been stringent about approving the credit guarantees. Late last year, it rejected an application from No. 2 US carrier United Airlines and the airline filed for bankruptcy protection days later.
Now US carriers and some members of Congress are calling for the government to step in again to help struggling airlines cope with the decline in business from the Iraq war.
Representative James Oberstar of Minnesota, said on Friday the airline job cuts announced this week "clearly demonstrates the need" for Congress to approve an assistance package for airlines.
"We must not force the airlines to bear a disproportionate share of the direct and indirect costs of a war with Iraq," Oberstar said.
He proposed an airline aid bill in the House of Representatives.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique