Cos. Lift SARS Restrictions

Following the World Health Organization's proclamation that SARS has been "stopped dead in its tracks," business travel to SARS-infected regions is beginning to rebound as corporate travel departments lift restrictions and many Asia/Pacific, European and U.S. carriers restore service to the region.

When WHO lifted its advisory for Beijing last month, all areas that the organization once advised travelers to avoid for nonessential trips had been deemed safe once again. "Beijing is the last area to which WHO recommended that people should postpone all but essential travel," said WHO director general Gro Harlem Brundtland.

At the height of SARS transmissions in the Asia/Pacific region, the National Business Travel Association conducted a survey of 240 travel managers, finding that 55 percent had decreased travel directly in response to the epidemic. Now, corporate travel departments are allowing travelers to return to such SARS-infected areas as southern China, Vietnam, Singapore and Canada.

ConocoPhillips, Agilent Technologies and Wal-Mart are among the many companies responding to WHO's safety claim by reinstating travel.

"The ban has been lifted, and we're back to normal," acknowledged Wal-Mart Stores Inc. corporate travel manager Teresa Asbery. Wal-Mart had made headlines earlier in the year when, in addition to advising employees against traveling to infected regions, the company pressured its suppliers to observe the travel policy, which included a 10-day observation period for those returning from regions where the epidemic had spread.

Energy giant ConocoPhillips also said SARS-related travel bans now have been lifted. The company gradually eased restrictions in response to SARS advisories and alerts issued by WHO and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. When WHO took a country off of its list of travel advisories, the company followed suit.

NBTA in a yet to be released poll asked corporate travel managers how subsiding concerns over SARS and the war in Iraq has affected the demand for travel. About 38 percent of respondents said travel demand has increased, and 53 percent said demand remains flat.

"We never had a travel ban," said Barbara LaFemina, News Corp. senior director of corporate administration. "We left it up to the individual." LaFemina said that since WHO declared it safe to return to affected regions, the company has not seen an uptick in bookings, as a lull in Asia/Pacific travel remains.

Though airline traffic declines stemming from SARS concerns have moderated, and passenger flows are rebuilding, the financial impact likely will persist throughout the summer, especially for Chinese carriers. To take advantage of any pent-up demand, various regional and global carriers recently reinstated many services as health authorities lifted the last travel advisories. "The worst of SARS is likely behind us," said Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association.

From the United States, United Airlines resumed certain Asia/Pacific services in its July schedule and next month plans to restart another wave of flights. Specifically, effective Aug. 1, United will reinstate four weekly nonstops between Chicago and Hong Kong, a third weekly flight between Chicago and Beijing and will increase San Francisco-Shanghai service to daily. United, however, has said it will not resume San Francisco-Taipei service. Continental Airlines, also effective Aug. 1, will resume four weekly flights between Newark and Hong Kong.

Many Asian carriers, meanwhile, have restored much of their domestic and regional networks, including Air China, All Nippon Airways, China Southern Airlines, Japan Airlines Group and Korean Airlines, but China Southern president Wang Changshun noted that "putting our network back together is much more complicated than just putting planes on the tarmac." China Southern on Aug. 1 also will reinstate twice-weekly Beijing-Amsterdam service, a codeshare route with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.

Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific, the carrier perhaps most dramatically impacted by the SARS outbreak, by next month plans to operate 90 percent of its regular schedule, following operational levels that had declined this spring to about one-third. "SARS in many ways showed just how important air travel is to the flow of business and Hong Kong's economy," said Cathay Pacific director and COO Philip Chen.

In Europe, carriers recently have had a mixed outlook. The Association of European Airlines said aggregate Asia/Pacific traffic in May for its members declined nearly 29 percent. The group said that "a decrease of this magnitude" had only before been measured in any region, on the North Atlantic in the months immediately following the 2001 terrorist attacks. KLM said, despite the peaking of SARS, it has not observed any substantial market improvement.

Lufthansa German Airlines conveyed more optimism. For its July schedule, the carrier resumed several flights to major Chinese cities. The August schedule once again will include daily service to Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai. "We now hope for a quick return to normal of the business traffic," said Lufthansa chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber, "and a steady increase in demand in the region."