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Bloomberg
China’s aviation market, projected to overtake the US this decade and become the world’s biggest, has shrunk to such an extent due to the coronavirus
outbreak that it’s fallen from third to 25th, behind Portugal.
Airlines have slashed capacity because of the epidemic centred in Hubei province, leaving the industry reeling.
About 1.7 million seats — almost 80% of capacity — were dropped from China services from January 20 to February 17 by global carriers, according to OAG Aviation Worldwide. Meanwhile, Chinese airlines cut 10.4 million seats domestically.
“No event that we remember has had such a devastating effect on capacity as coronavirus,†John Grant, senior analyst at OAG, wrote in a report.