Skift Take
While the World Health Organization has stopped short of calling for a shutdown of global travel and trade, many travel companies are limiting their operations to reduce the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on their financials while helping to safeguard public health.
The World Health Organization convened an emergency committee on Thursday to decide whether to upgrade the status of the coronavirus outbreak spreading across the world to a global emergency.
While the group declared a public health emergency, the travel industry needs no such confirmation. In a matter of days, the virus' effect on the industry has gone from speculative to one that's reflected in earnings, schedules, and share prices of multiple sectors in the industry. From airlines to border crossings and cruise ships, the virus' spread across the globe is, like it or not, facilitated by the travel industry's core operations.
Hedge funds have shorted their positions against airlines who operate a high volume of flights to China, with European carriers including British Airways, Lufthansa, Air France-KLM particularly exposed. All three have halted flights to and from China completely, while others have cut down on schedules. Share prices of both Air France KLM and Lufthansa have fallen 13 perce
