BWIA not affected by Toronto SARS advisory

BWIA has not been adversely affected by the SARS threat in Toronto.

This assurance was given yesterday by Clint Williams, the airline’s Corporate Communications Manager, who said the impact of the World Health Organisa-tion’s travel advisory on ticket sales to the destination was not significant. “There has been no overall drastic effect on our sales to this point,” Williams said. When asked about possible fears among the crew members for their own health and safety, Williams said confidently: “They have been adequately trained and are aware of the risk but are ready to deal with the chance of exposure.They are trained professionals.”

Williams told Newsday the airline will “continue to fly the Toronto route as long as we see it as a viable destination, we are up to date on all WHO standards, our crew members have been briefed and are adequately prepared”. As recently as Saturday someone died of the disease in Toronto, taking the Canadian death toll to 20. Discoveries by researchers, indicating that the rate of fatality is approximately ten percent, have served to exacerbate the hysteria.