European Airlines Ease Mexico Rules, Citing Swine Flu (Update1)

By Andrea Rothman

April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Europe’s three largest airlines suspended penalties for passengers who want to change plans to avoid travel to Mexico during the swine flu outbreak.

Air France-KLM Group, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and British Airways Plc said today they’re allowing people ticketed to Mexico to postpone flights. Air France and British Airways are also permitting passengers to change destinations. Mexican and U.S. carriers including Aeromexico and American Airlines have taken similar steps.

U.S. officials recommend that nonessential travel to Mexico be avoided and the European Union has told travelers to avoid outbreak areas. French Health Minister Roselyne Bachelot said today she will ask the European Union to suspend flights to Mexico. Malaysia called on the World Health Organization to ban outbound travel from Mexico while Japan suspended visa-free entry for Mexican nationals.

“It’s not the fault of passengers that this is going on,” said Herve Erschler, a spokesman for Air France. “We’re trying to respond in a way that’s appropriate to the situation and makes commercial sense.”

The major European airlines haven’t altered flight schedules in response to the spreading illness. TUI AG and Thomas Cook Group Plc, Europe’s biggest tour operators, have temporarily canceled all U.K. flights to Cancun.

Flight Frequency

Air France offers twice-daily flights to Mexico City from Paris, one via code-sharing with SkyTeam partner Aeromexico. Lufthansa flies daily to Mexico City from Frankfurt, while British Airways flies four times a week from London to the Mexican capital.

The potential threat to airline travel comes after global traffic fell 11 percent in March, a steeper decline than February’s 10 percent. That extended a contraction that began in September, the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association said yesterday.

Spending on business travel was already set to decline about 7.5 percent during the next 12 months, according to Ascend, which studies air travel and maintains an online database of aircraft. In a survey of 280 frequent business travelers from more than 35 countries, Ascend found that 52 percent predict that their company’s air-travel budget will drop significantly.

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