The outbreak of the new virus threatens to erase 29 billion U.S. dollars of this year's revenue for global airlines, mostly for Chinese carriers, as travel crashes worldwide, according to the International Air Transport Association. 

The trade group for global airlines said Thursday that the virus causing COVID-19 has the potential for causing a 13 percent decline in demand for Asian carriers this year. 

The contraction comes at a time when Asian airlines' sales had been growing, the group said. 

Global air traffic will be reduced by 4.7 percent for the year, marking the first overall decline in such demand since the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009, IATA said in a statement. How profits will be affected was still unclear, it said.

The virus, which began in China late last year, has sickened more than 75,000 people in China, and more than 2,000 people have died in the country. More than 1,000 cases have been found outside of China.

International airlines including British Airways, Germany's Lufthansa, Australia's Qantas and the three largest U.S. airlines have suspended flights to China, in some cases until late April or May. 

Travel restrictions inside China and fear of the illness have devastated demand for domestic flights in the fast-growing China market.

"These are challenging times for the global air transport industry. Stopping the spread of the virus is the top priority," said Alexandre de Juniac, IATA's director-general and CEO. "This will be a very tough year for airlines."

(Cover: Travelers wearing face masks stand in line at the check-in counters for Cathay Pacific at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in Shanghai, China. /AP)