Flu Fears Boost Charter Flights

Vaccine makers aren't the only companies poised to benefit from swine flu. Business is booming for charter-plane operators as nervous executives avoid airlines, Bloomberg News reports.

The trend is not just a boon for the small operators—it's potentially bad news for large carriers. The airline industry lost more than $6 billion in the first half of this year as first-class and business travel declined 21 percent, Bloomberg reports, citing the International Air Transport Association. To be sure, demand for charter flights dropped earlier this year as well, but business is picking up on fears of swine flu, according to operators.

“We’ve run 54 more flights in August than last year in executive jets alone, and some of that is an offshoot of not wanting to go to the general aviation terminals,” Air Charter CEO Tony Bauckham tells Bloomberg.

UK-based Air Charter has $200 million in annual sales. Overall, the charter-plane business is a $33-billion-a-year industry, Bloomberg reports.

More than 254,000 people were infected with swine flu since April, and more than 2,800 people died, the World Health Organization reports. The number of fatalities more than doubled in the last month, Bloomberg reports.

“The big risk would be if the virus turns more hostile,” Frank Skodzik, an airline analyst at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt tells Bloomberg. “That would be a major threat to air travel.”