BANGKOK, March 25 (TNA) — The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand approves all service stoppage requests from airlines as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) discouraged air travel.
CAAT Director-General Chula Sukmanop said his office received and approved such requests from many airlines that wanted to suspend both domestic and international flights.
“The COVID-19 pandemic causes the number of air passengers to plummet. From January and March that is the winter flight season, CAAT has found that the number of flights drops by 9,797 and about 3 million passengers disappear from the traffic,” he said.
It would be difficult for airlines to resume their services if the situation continued, Mr Chula said. The resumption would be possible if the outbreak declines in Europe in its summer from June and there is an effective vaccine for the disease, he said.
According to Mr Chula, Thai Airways International suspends its flights in the region from March 25 to May 31 and European flights from April 1 to May 31. Thai Lion Air stops domestic and international flights from March 25 to April 30. Thai AirAsia suspends all international flights from March 22 to April 25. (TNA)
