Emirates has backtracked on plans to keep a lifeline open to some countries and will now suspend all flights from March 25 for at least two weeks.
The airline issued a statement early Monday that it planned to keep flying to Australia, the US, the UK, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines, Japan, Singapore, South Korea South Africa and Canada.
But a directive from the United Arab Emirates government means that will now not happen.
“As per the latest UAE government directive, Emirates will temporarily suspend all passenger flights for two weeks from 25 March 2020.'' a spokesperson said.
"These measures are in place for the protection of communities against the spread of COVID-19, and we are in full support.
"We look forward to resuming passenger services as soon as feasible."
Emirates suctomers were advised to visit the airl's website on contact their travel agent.
The Dubai-based airline said it would also continue to maintain international air cargo links for economies and communities, deploying its fleet of 777 freighters for the transport of essential goods including medical supplies across the world.
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It said it had aimed to maintain passenger flights for as long as feasible to help travelers return home amid the rise in travel bans, restrictions and country lockdowns.
"The world has literally gone into quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak,’’ Emirates chairman and chief executive Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said.
“This is an unprecedented crisis situation in terms of breadth and scale: geographically, as well as from a health, social, and economic standpoint.
“Until January 2020, the Emirates Group was doing well against our current financial year targets. But COVID-19 has brought all that to a sudden and painful halt over the past 6 weeks.
"As a global network airline, we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot viably operate passenger services until countries re-open their borders, and travel confidence returns.
“By Wednesday March 25, although we will still operate cargo flights which remain busy, Emirates will have temporarily suspended most of its passenger operations.
“We continue to watch the situation closely, and as soon as things allow, we will reinstate our services."
The Emirates Group, which says it has “strong liquidity and a healthy cash position”, has implemented basic salary cuts for most employees for three months but said it did not intend to cut jobs.
Emirates president Sir Tim Clark will take a 100 percent basic salary cut for three months as will the head of dnata, Gary Chapman.
Other measures include postponing or canceling discretionary expenditure, a freeze on all non-essential recruitment and consultancy work and work with the suppliers to find cost savings.
“Emirates remains committed to serving its markets and looks forward to resuming a normal flight schedule as soon as that is permitted by the relevant authorities,’’ it said.
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