Corona virus a threat to the pressured aviation industry

Several airlines around Europe have canceled their trips to China, and other countries hit hard by the corona virus. Swedish SAS has also temporarily stopped its flights from Copenhagen and Helsinki to Beijing and Shanghai.

- The Swedish aviation industry is already under pressure as it is. We have seen that domestic flights have declined tremendously in recent years and increased virus spread in Europe could hit hard on airlines, says Jean-Marie Skoglund, aviation market analyst at the Swedish Transport Agency.

- We have already seen that the booked trips from Sweden to Asia, especially to China, have gone down significantly and flights have been canceled, he continues.

Like so many others, the Swedish Transport Agency is monitoring developments closely and adhering to the assessments and recommendations that come from the Public Health Authority and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

- It is not possible to predict what will happen, but should there be evidence from the Public Health Agency that says we should close some flights, we will act. It could be that the air traffic to Iran is canceled, for example, says Jean-Marie Skoglund.

What would a widespread distribution mean for the Swedish airlines?

"It's hard to say, but when we have had this kind of event before, it has hit the airlines with cuts and even bankruptcies," says Jean-Marie Skoglund.