The novel coronavirus outbreak in China could cause a “sizeable disruption” to passenger traffic, especially for operators in the Asia-Pacific region, though analysis of past pandemic episodes—such as SARS, the avian flu, and MERS—indicates that “any effect on air transport would be temporary,” IATA said. “In the past, the airline industry has proven resilient to shocks, including pandemics,” IATA concluded, though it acknowledged the adverse timing of the 2019-nCoV outbreak as it coincided with the Lunar New Year celebrations and China’s busiest travel season. Moreover, owing to the very strong growth of the Chinese air transport market over recent years, an additional 450m passengers fly to, from, and within China per year compared with a decade ago. <br/>
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Travel providers now use artificial intelligence software to re-price their offerings, sometimes dozens of times a day, to maximise revenue. For business and leisure travellers, the result is a variation of the cat-and-mouse game, where travel companies are almost always the cat. Traditionally, hotels and airlines priced their offerings depending on peak demand periods, past sales data and the number of current reservations. Now, changes in travel pricing are being made much more frequently. The practice, called “hyperdynamic pricing,” is poised for significant growth, said technology consulting firm AlixPartners. According to research by Hopper, the average price of a domestic flight changes 17 times in just 2 days, while international flights change a dozen times in that span. <br/>
Germany and Sweden have seen a drop in air passengers, partly as a result of flight shaming. Fliers are moving onto Europe's creaking rail networks, which will likely mean more delays, crowds and cancellations for all. Environmental groups welcomed a 4% annual drop in people flying via airports in Sweden, where the concept of flight shaming or Flygskam was born. Germany, too, saw a 0.4% decline in air traffic last year; domestic air travel fell more steeply — down almost 2%. But the German airports association, ADV, blames economic, not environmental reasons. Germany's Deutsche Bahn, on the other hand, is seeing record numbers of long-distance rail travellers. In the first half of 2019, it carried 71.8m longer-haul passengers and expects that figure to have reached 150m for the whole of last year. <br/>
Around 70% to 80% of passengers headed to or coming from China are not showing up at airports for their flights, the Airline Operators Council in Manila said Monday. Council chairman Allan Nepomuceno said this trend in international flights may also affect domestic flights and the country’s tourism industry at large. "Several airlines already confirmed to us there are about 70% to 80% of the passengers are not showing up,” he said. The low number of passengers showing up for their flights to and from China comes on the heels of the 2019 novel coronavirus outbreak, although the Department of Health has assured that there is no confirmed case in the country yet. <br/>