Honda, the Japanese car company, said it was suspending all overseas trips for employees, while the FTSE 100 listed mining company Fresnillo said it was postponing "non-urgent" travel
Nokia, Samsung Electronics, Hon Hai, Swiss Re and Adidas were among other companies to place restrictions on travel. If the trend continues it could pose a serious threat for airlines – already hit by the global recession – many of whom rely on business class travel for a large proportion of revenue.
Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said the outbreak of swine flu which began in Mexico and has killed more than 150 people would inevitably hurt the airline business at the worst possible time.
"It is still too early to judge what the impact of swine flu will have on the bottom line. But it is sure that anything that shakes the confidence of passengers has a negative impact on the business," he said. "And the timing could not be worse given all of the other economic problems airlines are facing."
Airline shares tumbled for a second consecutive day yesterday. British Airways fell 5.4pc to 143.1p, while easyJet was down 5.6pc at 302.25p. A spokesman for British Airways said the airline was operating as normal and that it was "far too early to tell" whether the swine flu outbreak would have an impact on the business.
The FTSE 100 closed down 70.61 points or 1.7pc at 4096.4 and the price of commodities including crude oil and metals were also hit as fears grew that the outbreak could wipe out tentative improvements to the global economy and weaken demand for raw materials.
"Markets are doing what they tend to do, taking fright," said Howard Wheeldon, strategist at BGC Partners. "But in my view, it's totally unnecessary."
World Health Organisation (WHO) experts have warned the swine flu virus cannot be contained, and could infect one in four of the British population. China, the world's biggest pork consumer, has banned pig-product imports from Mexico and parts of the US where cases of the virus have been confirmed.
Breaking views: B4 Only half of the country's businesses have prepared plans to cope with the impact of a flu pandemic, prompting the Cabinet Office to warn that many could fail. An annual poll of 1,000 businesses found that despite recognising the threat posed by diseases like swine influenza, 53pc of organisations had no plans to help them operate during a pandemic.
