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SARS Slows Travel

Aired April 22, 2003 - 14:31   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in Jen Rodgers. She'll join us more on how SARS is affecting a business which needs this like it needs a hole in the head. That's the travel industry. Jen Rodgers at a place they call LAX, where hopefully they're not being lax about SARS. Jen, how are you?
JEN RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Miles.

Definitely not being lax about SARS here or really up and down the coast. A number of airports on the West Coast really seen as gateways to Asia. And as you said, this could not come at a worst time for the airline industry. The war in Iraq, the soft economy. They had bad weather earlier this winter. Just a whole pile of stuff. And SARS is just adding to that.

Now, you heard the CDC talking about travel advisories and those requests to curtail non-essential travel. Well, talking to people here at LAX International, people really seem to be taking that to heart. We didn't really run into people that are trying to cash in on those rock bottom fares to Asia right now and head over for leisure travel.

That being said, it is not a ghost town here either. We've mostly run into people that say their travel really is necessary. We ran into a group of students coming back from China after their study abroad program was cut short. We ran into a woman who was heading over to Asia because her father had died.

But really demand overall very low and that is leading to the airlines cutting back their schedules.

How much are these schedules shrinking? Well, Cathay Pacific, that is an airline which is really synonymous almost with Hong Kong, has seen its capacity cut down to 42 percent. Japan Airlines down 20 percent. Qantas Airlines down 20 percent and Singapore Airlines just under the 20 percent mark there at 19.7 percent. And this is really just a glimpse of a couple of airlines that are cutting. There are many more on this list.

Now people that we talk to here at Los Angeles are certainly taking this to heart, as I said. Really, people we talk to saying that their travel was necessary. At this point, they say, they're not that afraid but they are taking basic precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SOPHIA LEE, RELATED TO AIR TRAVELER: Yes, I just -- I gave him anti-bacterial soap and I just gave them the -- the mask -- masking cover so they will, you know, just wear it at all times. It shouldn't be that bad, but just -- it's better to be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: So when will this be getting any better? Well, that is a big question. And of course the airlines probably monitoring that news conference out of the CDC. They want any information that they can get on this.

One hope that they do have, Miles, is that when things may be returned to normal or there's some stabilization, there will be pent- up demand. They say people aren't canceling their trips, they're really deferring them, so that when this gets a little bit better, they're thinking that they might have to ramp up to speed very quickly to deal with all the demand at that point -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That's definitely a half full way of looking at it. Jen Rodgers, Los Angeles International Airport, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired April 22, 2003 - 14:31   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's bring in Jen Rodgers. She'll join us more on how SARS is affecting a business which needs this like it needs a hole in the head. That's the travel industry. Jen Rodgers at a place they call LAX, where hopefully they're not being lax about SARS. Jen, how are you?
JEN RODGERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello there, Miles.

Definitely not being lax about SARS here or really up and down the coast. A number of airports on the West Coast really seen as gateways to Asia. And as you said, this could not come at a worst time for the airline industry. The war in Iraq, the soft economy. They had bad weather earlier this winter. Just a whole pile of stuff. And SARS is just adding to that.

Now, you heard the CDC talking about travel advisories and those requests to curtail non-essential travel. Well, talking to people here at LAX International, people really seem to be taking that to heart. We didn't really run into people that are trying to cash in on those rock bottom fares to Asia right now and head over for leisure travel.

That being said, it is not a ghost town here either. We've mostly run into people that say their travel really is necessary. We ran into a group of students coming back from China after their study abroad program was cut short. We ran into a woman who was heading over to Asia because her father had died.

But really demand overall very low and that is leading to the airlines cutting back their schedules.

How much are these schedules shrinking? Well, Cathay Pacific, that is an airline which is really synonymous almost with Hong Kong, has seen its capacity cut down to 42 percent. Japan Airlines down 20 percent. Qantas Airlines down 20 percent and Singapore Airlines just under the 20 percent mark there at 19.7 percent. And this is really just a glimpse of a couple of airlines that are cutting. There are many more on this list.

Now people that we talk to here at Los Angeles are certainly taking this to heart, as I said. Really, people we talk to saying that their travel was necessary. At this point, they say, they're not that afraid but they are taking basic precautions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SOPHIA LEE, RELATED TO AIR TRAVELER: Yes, I just -- I gave him anti-bacterial soap and I just gave them the -- the mask -- masking cover so they will, you know, just wear it at all times. It shouldn't be that bad, but just -- it's better to be safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RODGERS: So when will this be getting any better? Well, that is a big question. And of course the airlines probably monitoring that news conference out of the CDC. They want any information that they can get on this.

One hope that they do have, Miles, is that when things may be returned to normal or there's some stabilization, there will be pent- up demand. They say people aren't canceling their trips, they're really deferring them, so that when this gets a little bit better, they're thinking that they might have to ramp up to speed very quickly to deal with all the demand at that point -- Miles.

O'BRIEN: That's definitely a half full way of looking at it. Jen Rodgers, Los Angeles International Airport, thanks very much.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com