TOKYO >> Japan Airlines System Corp., Asia's biggest carrier, said more than 30,000 passengers have canceled bookings on international flights since the outbreak of war until the end of April. 30,000 cancel JAL
overseas bookings
Star-Bulletin news services
About 10,000 of those cancellations were in March alone, as concerns about the war may have combined with worries about a deadly virus which has been spread from Asia by air travelers, said company spokeswoman Yoshie Otaka.
The carrier last week said it will suspend or reduce more overseas services, cutting capacity for April by 8 percent from its earlier plan, to cope with a slump in demand triggered by the war.
The carrier cut in half its weekly flights between Osaka and Honolulu, and cut Tokyo-Honolulu service by a third.
Japan Airlines earlier cut its annual net income forecast by two-thirds, blaming the war and a weaker economy.
At least 1,550 people worldwide have been infected with the new respiratory disease, most of them in China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The illness has killed 54 to date, and caused shares of Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Singapore Airlines Ltd. and other Asian carriers to plunge on concern about cancellations during the Easter vacation in mid-April, usually a peak season for air travel.
Japan Airlines