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Passengers arrive on a flight from Asia at Los Angeles International Airport, California. Photo: AFP

Coronavirus: here are the airlines and places restricting travel to and from China

  • More than 50 airlines have halted flights to and from mainland China as coronavirus infections continue to soar
  • Countries such as Singapore, Australia and the US have banned the entry of non-citizens who have travelled to China in the last 14 days
The outbreak of the Wuhan coronavirus has prompted more than 50 economies and airlines to restrict travel to China, increasingly isolating the world’s second-largest economy.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has so far said that such limits on trade and travel are not needed to control the spread of the virus. Here are the airlines, countries and territories that have travel restrictions on China, updated as of 1pm on February 6.

Hong Kong and Macau

Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon together will cut 783 flights per week in February and 835 per week in March. Some 90 per cent of the group’s reduction falls on mainland China services. The airlines will only fly to Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, and Chengdu.

Cathay Pacific’s flights to New York will rise from 11 to 14 a week, while Vancouver flights will double to 14 in February and remain 10 in March.

Beijing has stopped issuing permits for mainlanders travelling individually and in tour groups to Hong Kong and Chief Executive Carrie Lam said all border crossings with the mainland would be closed, except for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, Shenzhen Bay Port and the international airport as part of efforts to reduce the number of people arriving. Hong Kong will from February 8 quarantine all travellers from mainland China for 14 days.

Visitors from Hubei – the central Chinese province of which Wuhan is the capital – and people who have visited the area are banned from entry.

Macau has banned the entry of Wuhan and Hubei residents without a medical declaration stating they are not carrying the virus. All other visitors to the city are being required to fill out health declaration forms.

Taiwan

Taiwan said it would suspend all flights to mainland China from February 10, with the exception of those to Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen and Chengdu. The ban will remain in force until April 29.

Mainland China nationals are not allowed to transit or enter unless their spouse is from Taiwan. Passengers who’ve been in mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau in the past 14 days are not allowed to enter unless they are Taiwan residents or holders of passports from Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau. Hong Kong and Macau travellers will need to be under home or hotel quarantine for 14 days after landing on the island.

Foreign nationals who travel to Taiwan from South Korea will have to undergo home quarantine for 14 days starting February 25.

Singapore

Singapore Airlines and SilkAir said they would reduce their frequency of service to mainland China from February 3 to March 29.

Scoot suspended flights to 11 Chinese cities from early February until the end of March and reduced frequencies to eight other mainland destinations.

Singapore blocked the entry and transit of people who had travelled to mainland China in the previous 14 days. Visas of Chinese citizens to visit Singapore have been suspended, including those already issued.

From March 5, visitors with recent travel history to South Korea, Iran and northern Italy within the last 14 days will not be allowed to enter or transit through Singapore.

Residents who have been in Hubei province in the last 14 days will be quarantined upon entry in Singapore. Work pass holders with travel history to mainland China in the last 14 days are allowed to enter the city state subject to prior approval from the Ministry of Manpower, which will need to be shown to airline staff upon check-in and before boarding. Mainland Chinese with passports issued in Hubei are not allowed to transit or enter Singapore, though those holding permanent residency or long-term passes will be quarantined upon entry in Singapore. Passengers with an Approved Letter for Entry from the Singapore Immigration & Checkpoints Authority will not be subject to the above restrictions but will still be subject to health screenings upon arriving at Singapore airport.

Indonesia

Indonesia is temporarily banning flights to and from mainland China from February 3 and won’t allow those who have been there in recent weeks to enter or transit.

Indonesia has five domestic airlines flying to China: Garuda Indonesia, Citilink Indonesia, Lion Mentari Airlines, Sriwijaya Air and Batik Air Indonesia. The temporary flight ban applies to foreign airlines flying from China to Indonesia, including for transit; flights to and from Hong Kong will be allowed under close supervision of Garuda Indonesia and local authorities.

The government has suspended free visa and visa-on-arrival services for Chinese citizens living in the mainland and called on Indonesians to temporarily stop travelling there.

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Philippines

Philippine Airlines said it was reducing flights to China by 50 per cent until April 1. Budget airline Cebu Pacific Air said all flights between the Philippines and Beijing, Shanghai, Xiamen, Guangzhou and Shenzen were being cancelled from February 2 to March 29.

Philippine Airlines, AirAsia Philippines and Cebu Pacific said they have cancelled flights to and from Taiwan after the government expanded its travel ban to include all foreigners coming from the island.

AirAsia Philippines said it was no longer offering flights to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Hong Kong and Macau and that the measure would be in place until March 1.

The Philippines widened a travel ban previously imposed on visitors from Hubei province to all of mainland China, including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan. The restriction on the self-ruled island was lifted on February 14.

The Philippines on March 3 eased travel restrictions to South Korea, allowing Filipinos to visit there, except for the coronavirus-impacted North Gyeongsang province.

Filipinos are not allowed to travel to the whole of North Gyeongsang province, including the city of Daegu and Cheongdo county. Manila also barred travellers from the virus-stricken South Korean province from entering the country.

Malaysia

Malaysia has expanded a ban on visitors from China to include Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, after China’s decision to lock down cities in the provinces to curb the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. The Southeast Asian nation on January 27 imposed a temporary ban on travellers arriving from the city of Wuhan, the epicentre of the outbreak, and the surrounding province of Hubei. The restriction will be imposed on all tourists regardless of nationality who have visited Hubei, Zhejiang and Jiangsu.

Budget carrier AirAsia has suspended all flights to Wuhan and selected flights to mainland China.

Thailand

Thai Lion Air has stopped all flights to mainland China until February 29, while national carrier Thai Airways has cut capacity of flights to mainland Chinese cities.

Thailand will require all arriving Chinese tourists to provide medical certificates stating they are healthy and free of the virus. The kingdom expanded its strict quarantine screening to visitors from Hong Kong and Singapore.

South Korea

Korean Air is stopping flights to Wuhan until February 22 and will reduce services on other mainland China routes. Budget carrier Air Seoul suspended flights indefinitely between Incheon and the Chinese cities of Zhangjiajie and Linyi. JejuAir to suspend all China routes starting March 1.

South Korea said that it is considering expanding its strict quarantine screening to entrants from Hong Kong and Macau, in addition to those who arrive from mainland China.

The country has banned entry to all foreigners who travelled to China’s Hubei province after January 21. Korean visas issued by the Wuhan consulate in the Hubei province are invalidated. Mainland Chinese with a passport issued in Hubei are not allowed to enter. Seoul will also suspend its no-visa favour for Chinese tourists to Jeju Island. South Korea is also suspending tourism to China.

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Japan

ANA announced it has suspended flights between Hong Kong and Kansai between February 17 and March 28. Jetstar Japan said services on the Tokyo-Shanghai route will be suspended between February 5 and March 28.

Japan Airlines said that services to China will be reduced from 98 to 43 flights per week between February 17 and March 28, and some flights before February 16 may also be affected.

All Nippon Airways announced that flights from Tokyo (Narita) to Beijing and Wuhan will be cancelled until end-March. The 14 weekly round-trip flights connecting Haneda and Beijing will be reduced to seven a week over the same period.

Flights between mainland China and at least 13 regional airports in Japan will be completely suspended due to the outbreak.

Airports in Ibaraki, Nagasaki, Kagoshima and other prefectures will have no direct flights to Shanghai or any other Chinese cities starting February 15. The other airports affected are in Sendai, Matsuyama and Kitakyushu.

Starting on February 13, foreign nationals who have visited Zhejiang province or whose passports were issued by the province will be refused entry into Japan. Tokyo has already banned the entry of foreigners who have visited Hubei province in the previous 14 days.

Japan has urged its citizens not to travel to China and has barred entry to all people with symptoms of the coronavirus. Starting February 27, Japan will ban entry by foreigners who have visited South Korea’s Daegu and Cheongdo in the past 14 days.

Vietnam

Vietjet and Vietnam Airlines have suspended flights to the mainland as well as Hong Kong and Macau from February 1-April 30. Vietnam Airlines will temporarily suspend all of its South Korea flights beginning March 5, while Bamboo Airways and Vietjet have scaled back flights to the East Asian nation.

The aviation authority cancelled all flight permits and suspended new flight licenses for airlines operating between the country and China.

Vietnam ordered companies to stop accepting Chinese workers returning to the country after the Lunar New Year holiday. The suspension also applies to foreign workers travelling through Chinese regions affected by the outbreak.

Vietnam banned tourists from coronavirus-hit areas of South Korea on February 26. The government said that people from those areas who needed to come to Vietnam for other reasons must be quarantined for 14 days when entering the country.

Australia

Virgin Australia has halted all services between Australia and Hong Kong, saying the route is no longer commercially viable. The country’s largest airline Qantas Airways said it would cut flights to Asia by 16 per cent for at least three months, with flights to Shanghai suspended and those to Hong Kong reduced by two-fifths.

Its Hong Kong to Sydney service will be cut by half, while daily services to Brisbane and Melbourne will be pared back to four and five times a week, respectively.

Flights to Singapore will also be cut and the airline’s low-cost brand, Jetstar, will likewise reduce its Asia flights by 14 per cent until the end of May, affecting routes to Japan, Thailand and mainland China.

Australia will maintain an entry ban on foreign nationals from mainland China for another week, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on February 13. The ban will be reviewed each week and extends earlier travel restrictions put in place on February 1. Starting on March 11, all non-Australian residents travelling from Italy will be banned from entering the country and returning Australian residents will have to be quarantined for 14 days.

New Zealand

Air New Zealand will cut its Auckland-Shanghai service from daily to four times a week from February 18 to March 31.

China Southern said it had suspended one of its daily Auckland flights until further notice and would suspend its Christchurch service from February 11 to March 28.

Its remaining Auckland service would be reduced to four flights per week from February 11 to March 28.

China Eastern Airlines is suspending its daily Shanghai-Auckland flight from February 11 to March 28 and cancelling the last of its additional peak season service from February 11 to February 15.

Hainan Airlines cancelled its Auckland-Chongqing flight on February 4 and has no future flights between the two cities available on its website.

New Zealand has extended for eight days a ban on arrivals from mainland China, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on February 24. New Zealand nationals, residents and their immediate families will be allowed entry but will be required to self-isolate for a period of 14 days from their arrival.

It has also raised its travel advice about all of mainland China to “do not travel”, which is the highest level.

India

Air India said it is suspending its Delhi-Hong Kong flight from February 8, after it earlier halted the Shanghai route. IndiGo has suspended all three flights between India and China.

Visitors from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan - except diplomats and officials from international bodies - were barred on March 3, along with those from China last month.

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has temporarily suspended visa-on-arrival services for travellers from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.

“We have suspended the privilege for a month,” Foreign Minister Abul Kalam Abdul Momen said.

Chinese nationals can usually acquire visas on reaching Bangladesh but now will have to obtain visas before travelling, the minister said.

Potential Chinese visitors will have to submit health certificates when applying for Bangladeshi visas, he said.

Pakistan

Pakistan originally suspended flights to mainland China then resumed them on February 2.

It delayed opening its northern border with China, while Karachi Port Trust, operator of nation’s largest port, had asked immigration authorities not to allow crew on foreign vessels to disembark.

Maldives

The Maldives has banned all foreign travellers arriving from China as of Monday. Direct flights between mainland China and the Maldives have been suspended.

Nepal

Nepal closed its Rasuwagadhi checkpoint on the Chinese border for 15 days starting January 29.

Myanmar

Myanmar said it will suspend the issuance of visas-on-arrival for all visitors from China.

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North Korea

North Korea has yet to report a case, but it’s still pushing a tough campaign to prevent the spread of the virus, which state media have called a matter of “national existence”. It shut its borders to visitors from China on January 22.

The country has blocked tourists, reduced flights and strengthened screening at borders, harbors and airports. State media say 30,000 health workers have been mobilized across the country for preventive measures.

Mongolia

Mongolia closed its border with China until March 2.

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea shut its air and seaports on January 29 to all foreign travellers coming from Asia. The impoverished nation also shut its only land border with the Indonesia-controlled province of West Papua.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan Airlines, the Central Asian nation’s state carrier, has suspended flights to and from Beijing.

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US and Canada

Delta Air Lines and American Airlines suspended all flights to China to as late as the end of March. American Airlines said the carrier’s suspension of its Hong Kong flights to and from Los Angeles and Dallas would continue through February 20.

United Airlines said it would suspend Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hong Kong flights until April 24.

Air Canada has halted flights to Beijing and Shanghai. The suspension is expected to last until April 10. The airline also extended the suspension of daily flights to Hong Kong from Toronto until April 30.

The US is temporarily barring entry to foreign nationals who have visited China and pose a risk of spreading the illness, unless they are immediate relatives of US citizens or permanent residents. Flights from China would be funnelled through just seven US airports.

The State Department issued its highest level do-not-travel advisory for China. Canada advised citizens to avoid non-essential travel to China.

Britain and Europe

British Airways halted daily routes to Beijing and Shanghai. Virgin Atlantic has extended its suspension of daily operations to Shanghai until March 28 and increased travel restrictions to mainland China. It had previously suspended the flights from London Heathrow to Shanghai for two weeks from February 2.

Air France-KLM has suspended flights to China until March 15 after the French government urged citizens not to travel to China.

Finland’s Finnair said it was cancelling all flights to mainland China between February 6 and February 29 and to Guangzhou between February 5 and March 29.

Lufthansa said last week it was halting its China flights until February 9, including those run by subsidiaries Swiss and Austrian Airlines, but in an updated statement on Monday, the group said it was now halting flights to and from Beijing and Shanghai until February 28 – with Nanjing, Shenyang and Qingdao in eastern China not to be served until March 28. The airline continues to fly to Hong Kong.

Italy suspended all flights from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan until April 28.

Spain’s Iberia said it has extended its suspension of flights between Madrid and Shanghai until the end of April.

Polish carrier LOT said it had decided to temporarily suspend its flights to Beijing until February 9.

Nordic airline SAS said it had decided to suspend all flights to and from Shanghai and Beijing from January 31 until February 9.

Hainan Airlines suspended flights between Budapest, Hungary, and Chongqing from February 7-March 27.

All Russian airlines, with the exception of national airline Aeroflot, will stop flying to China. Moscow Sheremetyevo airport said budget airline Ikar would also continue its flights between Moscow and China. Four Chinese airlines – China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Air China, China Eastern – will keep flying to Moscow.

Russia suspended visa-free tourist travel to China and temporarily blocked Chinese citizens from reaching Russia over the Mongolian border. It will also stop processing documents for Chinese nationals to enter Russia for jobs, along with permits to hire workers from China. Visa-free travel was part of an agreement the two nations worked out in 2018.

Russia’s Federal Tourism Agency on February 27 recommended national tour operators suspend tours to Italy, South Korea and Iran until the outbreaks of coronavirus there are brought under control.

Moscow said it would suspend flights to and from South Korea, except those operated by Aeroflot and Aurora, and that it would stop issuing visas for regular and transit travel for Iranian citizens.

Middle East

Saudi Arabia has barred its citizens and residents of the kingdom from travelling to China. It warned that any residents of the kingdom who violate this order will not allowed to return to Saudi Arabia. State airline Saudia suspended China flights on February 2 until further notice.

Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad Airways were told to halt flights to all Chinese cities apart from Beijing. The suspension ordered by the United Arab Emirates civil aviation authority came into force on February 5. The UAE on February 25 banned travel to all cities in Iran with the exception of Tehran.

Egypt Air indefinitely suspended flights to mainland China. The airline connects to Hangzhou, Beijing and Guangzhou.

El Al Israel Airlines said it would suspend its Hong Kong flights until March 20 and reduce its daily flights to Bangkok. It suspended flights to Beijing from January 30 to March 25. Israel will refuse entry to foreign nationals coming from China. It will also ban all foreign nationals who have been to South Korea and Japan in the past 14 days from entering the country.

Oman’s aviation authority suspended all flights between the sultanate and China.

Qatar Airways suspended flights to China starting from February 3 until further notice.

Turkish Airlines suspended flights to Beijing, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Xi’an until February 9.

Kuwait's civil aviation authority announced on February 24 it had suspended all its flights to and from Iran, Iraq, Thailand, South Korea and Italy.

Bahrain has temporarily halted flights from Dubai and Sharjah.

Iraq indefinitely extended an entry ban on travellers from China and Iran and instituted similar curbs on visitors from Thailand, South Korean, Japan, Italy and Singapore, the health ministry said.

Africa

Kenya Airways suspended flights to and from Guangzhou until further notice.

Royal Air Maroc suspended direct flights to China until February 29.

RwandAir halted flights to and from China until further notice.

Air Tanzania postponed its maiden February flights to China from Dar es Salaam.

Ethiopian Airlines said it would continue flying to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu and Hong Kong.

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