World: Airline industry chief says terrorists won’t halt travel boom

The global airline industry association’s head said terrorist attacks on aircraft, airports and tourist destinations of the kind that have ripped through Europe and parts of northern Africa in the past year won’t stem surging travel demand. While such outrages have an impact on the industry and people’s perceptions, the effect is generally localized and temporary, IATA CEO Tony Tyler said Wednesday. “The business impact of these events tends to be quite isolated and it’s often not as long-term as some people may think,” Tyler said. “People don’t get frightened off by these thugs. Most people, I think, if they want to travel will travel.” Tyler spoke as investigators probing the loss of an EgyptAir jet in the eastern Mediterranean on May 19 picked up pings likely to coming from black-box flight recorders that should reveal whether the plane was the latest target in an 18-month spate of terrorist attacks focused on Europe and North Africa. The spree has already seen the main terminal at Brussels airport blown up, Paris devastated by blasts and shootings, a Russian jet downed by a suspected Islamic State bomb and dozens of tourists killed in Tunisia and Turkey. Tyler said most people nevertheless view flying as a very safe way to travel. “These outrages must be stopped, but I think that in business terms it’s not something that has a big impact, certainly not at recent levels,” he said. IATA said Monday the March 22 attacks on Brussels had been a factor in passenger-traffic growth slowing to 4.6% in April, the slowest pace since January 2015.<br/>