Continental suspends Newark-Hong Kong flights CHICAGO (Reuters) =97 Continental Airlines said Monday that it would suspend= =20 nonstop flights between New York and Hong Kong because of passenger fears=20 caused by SARS, a new virulent form of pneumonia sweeping the world.=20 Continental, the No. 5 U.S. air carrier, said traffic from Hong Kong has=20 remained stable, but passenger demand from the United States has plummeted= =20 because of government and health organization advisories against Hong Kong= =20 travel.The pneumonia-like disease, called Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome= =20 or SARS, has killed 100 people worldwide and infected more than 2,600. It=20 originated in China's Guangdong province, hit neighboring Hong Kong in=20 March, and has been spread around the world by travelers. Continental said it would suspend its five-times per week service from its= =20 Newark, New Jersey, hub to Hong Kong until June 2. The last flight to Hong= =20 Kong will be Thursday and the last flight to Newark Saturday. The nonstop=20 Newark to Hong Kong flight over the North Pole takes 15.5 hours, shaving at= =20 least two hours off other routes and making it a favorite of business=20 travelers. Continental, based in Houston, said it will still provide Hong=20 Kong service by connection in Tokyo on codeshare partner Northwest Airlines= =20 and twice weekly flights from Guam. In March, Continental said it expected= =20 to cut 1,200 jobs by the end of 2003 for a plan to cut $500 million per=20 year in costs. Continental said last week it would trim its summer schedule= =20 2% and cut more jobs because of weak demand. Shares of Continental were up 44 cents, or 7.1%, to $6.65 Monday on the New= =20 York Stock Exchange, mainly because of investor optimism that the U.S.-led= =20 war with Iraq might end sooner rather than later, analysts said. United=20 Airlines, a UAL Corp. unit, has suspended daily flights between Hong Kong=20 and Singapore for April, but continues to serve Singapore from Tokyo's=20 Narita Airport, a spokesman said. Northwest Airlines has made no=20 SARS-related schedule changes, a spokeswoman said. United and Northwest=20 both have extensive service to Asia. American Airlines, the world's largest= =20 air carrier and a unit of AMR Corp. has canceled no flights because of=20 SARS, though only 3% of its capacity comes from trans-Pacific routes.=20 Several airlines have offered surgical masks on flights from Asia to=20 passengers who want to protect themselves from SARS or to travelers who=20 show symptoms. Airlines have eliminated fees for changing reservations on=20 unrestricted tickets because of the war which apply for the next several= weeks. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.carstt.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************