MUSCAT, MARCH 14 - Travel agencies and airline companies are the worst hit as passengers either cancel or postpone their travel plans due to Covid-19. IATA, the trade association of the world’s airlines, said the industry is set to lose $113 billion in passenger revenue, if the coronavirus infection persists. “Cancellations are coming in bulk and it’s a scenario I’ve never seen before,” says Renee Johnson, MD, Royal King Travel Management Company. A 250-member south Indian film crew changed their travel to Oman due to virus scare, he said.
“Many tickets, both individual ones and group tickets, were cancelled to the tune of several thousands of Rials. Most of the passengers were worried about the visa availability, the possibility of coming back once they left the country and the like,” representative of a group of travel agencies has said.
This has resulted in some travel agencies instructing their employees to take leave without pay. “We had to cancel many sectors while service to many other sectors was curtailed in view of the virus,” said a source at the SalamAir, Oman’s budget airline.
The airline had to stop flying to two sectors in Iran, Bahrain, Phuket, Mecca while the frequency of services to Jeddah was curtailed. Some trading and contracting companies also have requested some of their workers to go on unpaid leave due to temporary suspension of their contracts with clients. “We are asked to go on unpaid leave as the company has lost some of its contracts with the clients,” an employee of a leading company has told the Observer.
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