Qantas cabin crew kept home as flu precaution
SYDNEY – Qantas has quarantined about 20 flight attendants who came into direct contact with swine-flu victims.
The Melbourne Age newspaper reports that the cabin crew are in quarantine after working on a series of flights with passengers who had tested positive to the potentially deadly H1N1 virus.
A Qantas spokeswoman said health authorities had made the request as a “precautionary measure”, but there were no confirmed cases of the flu among staff.
Qantas low-cost sibling Jetstar will cancel 31 of its Japan flights – almost one-third – next month due to “significant softening” of passenger loads amid swine flu fears.
The airline operates 21 flights per week to Japan and has warned more cutbacks may follow if conditions don’t improve.
“Initially, we were seeing a lot of school group cancellations but it is now transferring through to Japanese nationals of any background or persuasion,” Jetstar spokesman Simon Westaway told The Australian.
Tourism chiefs are continuing to call for calm, saying the swine flu outbreak should be kept in perspective.
Australian Tourism Export Council managing director Matthew Hingerty said, “I’m becoming increasingly alarmed over the hysteria over the swine flu business.
“My members are rapidly losing business as a result of an overreaction and I appeal to our political leaders and media commentators to keep this in perspective.”
He said no one had died from swine flu in Australia yet, however more than 3,000 Australians die from influenza every year.
Ian Jarrett
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