In 2003, SARS held the world in its grip for a few months. This epidemic was followed by a second, bird flu (H5N1), in 2008. Both outbreaks dealt a heavy blow to air traffic worldwide. Figure 8 shows the repercussions of the SARS outbreak: there was a steep decline in passenger flows, expressed as the number of kilometres travelled by paying passengers (RPKs = revenue passenger kilometres – a key indicator of airline income).
In 2003, Asian airlines suffered an 8% loss in turnover, corresponding to US$6 billion. US airlines saw their turnover drop by 3.7%, corresponding to US$1 billion. The impact on the North European airlines, including the Dutch airlines, is assumed to be comparable to these figures.