SARS virus hits world airlines, Quantas cuts jobs SYDNEY (Reuters) =97 World airlines were hit hard by the SARS epidemic on=20 Wednesday as several carriers cut flights, Australia's Quantas axed 1,000= =20 jobs and global airlines body IATA warned the disease could hurt the=20 industry more than the Iraq war. "SARS is likely to have a significantly=20 worse impact on the global airline industry than the war in Iraq," IATA=20 assistant director Lasantha Subasinghe told a Tokyo conference. The=20 International Air Transport Association had previously forecast war in Iraq= =20 could easily add $10 billion to world airline losses and deepen what is=20 already the worst crisis in the history of commercial aviation. IATA warned= =20 more carriers could join the list of airline casualties unless they manage= =20 to cut costs. Airlines around the world have slashed flights as they=20 struggle to cope with the pressure of the deadly SARS virus on bookings=20 already depressed by war. Asian airline shares fell around 4% on Wednesday.= =20 The flu-like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) has infected more=20 than 2,800 people in 20 countries, as travelers who picked up the virus in= =20 Asia spread it in their own countries. Qantas Airways Ltd, Australia's=20 biggest airline, axed 1,000 jobs on Wednesday, 3% of its workforce, blaming= =20 the impact of SARS. Finland's national carrier Finnair said its passenger numbers were down in= =20 March as SARS hit demand, a day after Germany's Lufthansa warned of an=20 "unexpectedly" deep first-quarter operating loss due to a sharp fall in=20 passenger numbers. Asia's biggest airline Japan Airlines System, All Nippon= =20 Airways, Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways, Korean Air, and Indonesia's=20 state-owned Garuda Indonesia have all cut flights because of SARS. Qantas=20 also plans to eliminate a further 400 permanent positions from its=20 35,000-strong work force through attrition and convert another 300=20 permanent jobs to part-time positions. "We're seeing in the last 10 days that SARS and the amount of publicity it= =20 has got...in this region is causing more problems than the war," Qantas=20 Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said. SARS HITS WHERE IT HURTS MOST Qantas said its international forward bookings remained soft, with=20 passengers wanting to fly the "kangaroo route" to London down 10%. Bookings= =20 to Hong Kong are down 25%, to Japan down 20% and to Europe down 17%. Shares= =20 in Qantas, which is 17% owned by British Airways, tumbled more than 4% to=20 A$3.07. Cathay, which says SARS has "annihilated" passenger bookings, saw=20 its shares drop 4.7% to HK$9.15, while Singapore Airlines shares slid 4% to= =20 S$8.90. "It seems what is being priced in is much worse than what's=20 actually there," said an Asian aviation analyst, who declined to be named.= =20 "SARS really hits people where it hurts the most =97 their health =97 but I= do=20 sense there's a little bit of an overreaction here which could be=20 interesting to see unwind," he added. Some analysts said while the Qantas=20 job cuts reflected global industry woes, the airline was also taking=20 advantage of the slump to trim its hefty long-term labour costs. Qantas=20 said it would not rule out further job cuts and plans to extend an=20 accelerated leave programme, which had aimed to temporarily cut 3,000=20 full-time equivalent positions through forced leave and a hiring freeze.=20 Some analysts said the global aviation crisis provided an ideal opportunity= =20 for Qantas to trim its heavily unionised workforce and better align its=20 cost base with that of low-cost rivals such as Richard Branson's Virgin=20 Blue. "I know they'll probably argue they have to do it anyway to maintain= =20 profitability, but it's a good chance to get really stuck into it and not=20 perhaps create the stiff opposition they would have done otherwise," said=20 F.W. Holst analyst David Spry. *************************************************** 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 *********************************************************