The Denver Post

New U.S. travel restrictio­ns represent another heavy blow to the battered aviation industry.

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President Donald Trump’s 30-day ban on Europeans traveling to the U.S. delivered a hammer blow to airlines that are already facing $113 billion in lost revenue worldwide this year because of the new coronaviru­s.

Foreign nationals who have spent two weeks in Europe, excluding the U.K., won’t be permitted to enter the U.S. after Friday, Trump said at the White House. Minutes after his late Wednesday announceme­nt, his administra­tion told American citizens to reconsider all foreign travel.

Flight restrictio­ns are cascading around the globe as the coronaviru­s pandemic threatens to spread to more countries. Trump’s controls will almost certainly mean more flights scrapped at European carriers and their U.S. peers. Struggling companies such as trans-Atlantic discounter Norwegian Air Shuttle ASA — down a whopping 80% this year — may be pushed closer to the brink. The discounter parked 40% of its long-distance fleet through May, and laid off 50% of its staff.

Aviation stocks plummeted worldwide Thursday as broader markets moved into bear territory. A Standard & Poor’s index of nine U.S. airlines tumbled 20% at the close in New York, the biggest drop since right after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. United Airlines Holdings Inc. paced declines among the country’s big carriers, falling 25% to $37.08, its lowest price since December 2013.

“However bad you thought it was, it’s worse,” said Cowen analyst Helane Becker. “We continue to believe near-term U.S. bankruptci­es are unlikely, but our conviction is diminishin­g. Airlines are in cash preservati­on mode.”

Boeing Co. — already reeling from the worldwide grounding of its 737 Max jets, which hits the one-year mark Friday — tumbled 18% to $154.84. That’s the lowest for the U.S. aircraft maker since late 2016. Airbus SE slid 17% to 71.36 euros.

The industry as a whole has lost more than $100 billion in market value this year, based on the Bloomberg World Airlines Index.

“Things are moving so fast,” said Brendan Sobie of the Sobie Aviation consultanc­y. “The crisis that the industry is facing right now is likely to be the worst in over 40 years.”

Trump’s ban will affect 11% of all interna-

tional flights and about 2 million seats each way over the next four weeks, data provider OAG Aviation Worldwide said. American Airlines Holdings Inc. and Delta Air Lines Inc. capped their economy fares between the U.S. and Europe.

Restrictio­ns on European travel will hit some of the most popular long-distance routes. France, Germany and the Netherland­s are home to three of the top-10 gateways across the Atlantic Ocean, according to the U.S. Transporta­tion Department. The U.S. is the world’s largest air travel market, though China is catching up fast.

Airlines already faced unpreceden­ted strains before Trump’s measures. With the public increasing­ly avoiding travel for fear of contractin­g the virus, the Internatio­nal Air Transport Associatio­n warned that passenger revenue might sink 19%, or $113 billion, this year. The total value of the market between the U.S. and the restricted European area was $20.6 billion last year, according to the trade group.

National government­s may need to provide credit to airlines to help them weather the blow,

Alexandre de Juniac, chief executive officer of the group, told Bloomberg TV.

“I don’t know of a government on this planet which has no interest in its airlines,” he said.

Airlines skidded worldwide. Deutsche Lufthansa AG dropped 14%. OAG said the German carrier accounts for 13% of the flights between the U.S. and the affected area, the most among European airlines. The second, Air France-KLM, tumbled 13%, the most since the global financial crisis in 2008.

British Airways owner IAG SA is among the least exposed major carriers, said Daniel Roeska, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, because the ban excludes the U.K. and Ireland — source of 85% of IAG’s trans-Atlantic flights.

The declines followed slumps in Asia, with Singapore Airlines Ltd. posting its lowest close since September 2001.

Among other measures, the European Union will ease a requiremen­t that carriers use at least 80% of airport takeoff and landing slots or risk losing them, a rule that had led some carriers to fly empty planes.

The U.S. restrictio­ns caught many in the industry off guard.

The travel sector had braced for additional flight restrictio­ns, but the focus was on Germany and Italy, countries with serious coronaviru­s outbreaks, said Scott Solombrino, executive director of the Global Business Travel Associatio­n.

The trade group had just finished calculatin­g that falling demand for travel to Europe could set the industry back by $190 billion. “We’ll go back to the drawing board,” he said. “At the end of the day, the numbers are staggering.”

Trump’s controls on travelers from Europe don’t apply to legal permanent residents and immediate family members of U.S. citizens. Americans arriving from Europe will travel through specific airports where they can be screened for the virus.

The blow will be severe for U.S. carriers, said George Ferguson, an analyst for Bloomberg Intelligen­ce.

“I think it hurts a lot. The big full-service guys, they make a lot of money across the Atlantic,” he said. “It’s absolutely the biggest internatio­nal market and it’s their most lucrative internatio­nal market.”

United Airlines will be particular­ly hurt because of its major operations in Frankfurt, Ferguson said. That comes on top of lost revenue from the ban on China flights and cutbacks to Asia, where United is the largest U.S. carrier.

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