"I think we're going to have a very deflated booking environment in the next two to three weeks, then people will get bored with coronavirus."

Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary spoke to CGTN Europe's Toni Waterman in Brussels today, as aviation chiefs met at the annual Airlines for Europe meeting. He's clearly more upbeat about the global aviation outlook than others. But despite the confidence, Ryanair will be cancelling around 25 percent of flights in and out of Italy until 8 April.

Surprisingly, however, Hungary's low-cost airline Wizz Air reported 26 percent growth in passenger numbers to three million in February, despite the effect of COVD-19 on the aviation industry.

In the U.S., the Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate by half a percent, in response to what it called "evolving risks" linked to COVID-19 – it's become the latest central bank to react after the Bank of England's announcement yesterday.

Despite the concerns around the spread of COVID-19 in Europe, Italian teacher Roberto Cighetti, who is quarantined in Codogno, spoke to CGTN Europe and had this to say: "My first advice is not to panic. It's important to maintain rationality. Don't go nuts for masks." You can watch that whole interview below.

In other non-coronavirus news, Geely plans to become the first Chinese auto maker to build its own satellites.

Happy reading,

Patrick Atack

Digital Business Correspondent

The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut its main interest rate by half a percent, in response to what it called "evolving risks" linked to COVID-19. The new rate range is 1-1.25 percent, though the Fed said in a statement it believes the "fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong."

COVID-19's impact on China-based electronics supply chains is delaying the arrival of smartphones and PCs in shops around the world. Factories in China are struggling to meet demands as experts warn the impact of the virus is being underestimated.

The increase of smartphones and use of business software in Africa has led to a rise in demand for data centers and is leading to investors rushing to cash in on the continent's growing cloud computing market. Africa's data center capacity has doubled in the past three years.

South Africa has been knocked into its second recession in as many years, as growth dropped by 1.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2019. Power blackouts stand in the way of the government's efforts to resuscitate growth.

Chinese car maker Geely said it's investing $33 million in a new satellite manufacturing plant. It plans to build low-orbit satellites to provide more accurate data for self-driving cars. The announcement makes Geely the first Chinese auto maker with plans to build its own satellites.

The China Appliance and Consumer Electronics Expo 2020 (AWE2020) is being postponed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Organizing Committee of AWE2020 announced that this year's event scheduled for mid-March will now take place in March next year, merging with the AWE2021.

The sale of the collapsed British Steel to Chinese firm Jingye will be finalized next week, with the Chinese rescuer expected to pay $89.6 million and invest a further $1.5 billion. The rescue deal includes contract offers to 3,200 members of staff, but 400 employees will be made redundant. 

Saudi Arabia's non-oil private sector grew at its slowest pace in almost two years in January, impacted by falling output and supply-chain disruptions caused by COVID-19.

Tesla China has downgraded its hardware on the made-in-China Model 3 due to supply-chain issues with the ongoing COVID-19 outbreak. The company promised free upgrades after some Chinese consumers noticed their newly delivered Tesla Model 3 vehicles were fitted with the company's Hardware 2.5 instead of the promised custom-designed Hardware 3 computer.

The Swiss government is expected to cut its growth forecast for 2020 as it predicts how the COVID-19 outbreak will impact the country's economy. The main impact will be through disrupted supply chains and weaker demand, with sectors such as tourism already feeling the effects.

The worst is still to come for the airline industry in terms of economic damage from the coronavirus outbreak, European bosses warned today. Air France-KLM boss Benjamin Smith appealed to the French government to delay its aviation tax. But Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary was more upbeat, suggesting "people will get bored with coronavirus" and return to flying. 

But Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air reported a higher number of passengers for February, despite the COVID-19 outbreak. Passenger numbers grew by 26 percent to three million, despite the virus, which resulted in the airline canceling several flights, spreading to more than 60 countries, disrupting global travel.

The world's largest online retailer, Amazon, has quietly opened a series of small warehouses closer to big U.S. cities in a move to speed up same-day delivery, the company told Reuters.

Italian teacher Roberto Cighetti talked to CGTN from his quarantine in Codogno, Italy. He gave us a view from inside the partial quarantine, and some tips on what you should do if you have to isolate yourself. 

Samuel Fu is President and Founder of AIWAYS, the Chinese car manufacturer. He spoke to CGTN from Munich, after the Geneva Motor Show was canceled over COVID-19 fears. 

You were set to launch this car at the Geneva Motor Show. How significantly has coronavirus derailed your plans and how have you worked around it? 

I think it's understandable that Geneva Motor Show organizers canceled the motor show, to secure the safety of all the participants. That's very understandable, from our side. 

But it's also a pity for us, we planned to present our new car and to announce something there. Instead, we have already done it in Stuttgart. 

Samuel, just explain to people who are not fans of the car industry why this matters so much in the age of the internet. Why do you still need these big launches like Geneva? 

I think Geneva's the perfect platform for the car makers, not only for the consumer, but also for the industry and the media. 

The consumer should touch, should get that real feeling and the smell to the car. So that's why we would like to have a physical presentation there. 

This still makes sense, but you're right. I think the virtual presentation can also play a very important role in the future. That depends on the technology development. 

You're an old hand in the car industry. Give us your sense how bad COVID-19 is going to be not just for you, but for the whole automotive sector? 

I think to the global car industry, I can not say very clearly, but at least in the Chinese car industry, COVID-19 will influence it a lot. 

My personal point of view, the recovery of the complete industry takes at least one quarter. We can not really recover all the work yet. Hopefully, we can restart the work in the middle of March. 

And when the whole sector restarts, do you get a sense that we're going to be looking at a motor industry that's going to have to drastically reshape itself? 

Yeah. I think this recovery is not only really on the supply chain, but also of the consumer market.

I think the recovery of supply chains from my point of view is not so difficult. It's easier because to different car makers, the influence is different. Only the supply chain in the Hubei province and Wuhan will be strongly influenced. 

But the consumer market is impacted by that coronavirus crisis. It takes time to recover. I think when the customers really come back to the to the showroom, really to issue the order. This takes another quarter. That's my view.

Do you sense that the management of car industries around the world need to rethink resilience? Do we need to revisit the globalization of the automotive sector?

I think the lesson learnt by the car makers [is to] have a duplicated supply chain as a back-up. This could be something valuable for all the car makers, but to eliminate the globalization... I don't think that's a solution. There's nothing to do with globalization. In case the crisis happened in the surrounding area, I think this problem is still there. 

Are you sensing that the drop in sales is worse for business in Asia or Europe? 

I think first of all Asia, because China is so directly impacted by the coronavirus. That depends on how the virus influences other continents and countries.

New unemployment figures from across the European Union were released by Eurostat today.
Our graph below shows the range of unemployment, from just two percent of working-age adults without a job in Czechia to 16.5 percent in Greece.