Empty jumbo jets arriving at deserted airports. Masked passengers disinfecting their own seats. Stone-faced airline executives huddling with President Trump. With the coronavirus outbreak continuing to spread around the globe, the aviation industry is being jolted. (At Left: A recent and an almost empty flight from China.)

Airline stocks dropped this week as investors reckoned with the prospect of canceled flights, lost sales and substantial reductions in service for months to come. Several carriers including United Airlines, Jet Blue and Lufthansa announced new route closings in recent days. An industry trade group said the coronavirus could wipe out between $63 billion and $113 billion in worldwide airline revenues this year.

"There are dramatically fewer people flying this week than there were last week," said Nicholas E. Calio, chief executive of Airlines for American. "Flights are being taken down because people aren't getting on airplanes."

David Clark, general manager of FreeWheel, flew to New York Kennedy Airport on Thursday morning from Mexico. Mr. Clark, a regular business traveler, said that his flight was almost empty, and that both airports seemed quiet. He said he might not fly again for months.

It has been almost 20 years since the aviation industry faced such an existential threat. After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, global air travel plummeted, and it took years for airlines to fully recover. Today there are worries that the coronavirus could have a similarly disastrous impact.