The devastating impact of SARS on the Canadian travel industry has been underlined by the results of the country’s biggest airline Air Canada.
People avoiding travel to, or via, Toronto hit the airline’s second quarter results with a net loss of Canadian$566million, compared to Canadian$30million for the same three month period in 2002.
The airline was hit harder than any other carrier outside Asia by SARS with Asian passenger revenues falling by 63% and domestic passengers by 26%. In total the airline said that over $400 million of the revenue loss in the quarter was due to SARS.
Robert Milton, President and Chief Executive Officer said that he was satisfied that the airline had “reacted as quickly as feasible” to cut costs further when faced with the outbreak.
Mr Milton said: ”The effect of the second Toronto outbreak in late May was devastating with travelers avoiding Toronto as both a destination and connecting point. As the SARS crisis in Toronto peaked at a time when travelers were firming up summer travel plans, many international travelers avoided all of Canada as a summer holiday destination with severe negative impact to the entire Canadian tourism industry.”
The airline said that the overall year over year decline in revenue was likely to be more than Canadian$1 billion. And Mr Milton warned that: “No meaningful recovery is expected before the third quarter of 2004.”
