UPDATE 1-Singapore Airshow to go ahead despite virus worries

The Singapore Airshow, Asia's biggest gathering of aerospace and defence industry executives, will go ahead as planned but a meeting of international aviation officials has been cancelled, the organisers said in a statement on Tuesday.

There had been concerns over the staging of the event, scheduled to run over Feb. 11-16, after a virus outbreak in China prompted measures by several nations, including the wealthy city-state, to rein in the spread of infections. Citing industry sources, Reuters reported earlier that a meeting of international aviation officials due to be held in Singapore on the eve of Asia's largest aerospace and defence event had been cancelled because of virus worries.

Experia Events Pte Ltd, the organisers of the airshow, said the cancellation of the aviation leadership summit will allow many of the aviation executives to work out responses to the virus outbreak. The summit involves 300 aviation executives, comprising government officials, civil aviation authorities, airport operators and airline executives.

Last week, Singapore denied entry to all Chinese visitors and foreigners with a recent history of travel to China.