SpiceJet temporarily suspends majority of international ops till April 15 amid Coronavirus

In the view of the Coronavirus crisis across the globe, SpiceJet on Thursday has issued a statement over temporarily suspending the majority of its international operations. As per its statement, the operations will be shut from March 21 till April 30. 

The SpiceJet spokesperson in its statement said, "We will resume the suspended flights as soon as the situation normalises. Our Kolkata-Dhaka flight will continue to operate as per schedule. Our Chennai-Colombo flight will restart from the 25th March 2020 while our Delhi-Dubai and Mumbai-Dubai flights will resume from 16th April 2020."

Meanwhile, GoAir had on Tuesday announced that it will be suspending all the international operations till April 15 against the backdrop of Coronavirus.

Airlines in Crisis

Meanwhile, as the Coronavirus has spread majorly across the globe creating a pandemic, most of the airlines in the world will be bankrupt by the end of May 2020, stated a report by the CAPA - Centre for Aviation, with the influential grouping Star Alliance publicly asking for governments to intervene. This is owing to the sharp drop in passenger traffic, and also owing to the visa curbs and closing of borders by numerous countries.

Read: India's ICMR rules out dreaded Stage 3; confirms no Coronavirus community transmission yet

The Coronavirus crisis

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel Coronavirus has affected nearly 173 countries in the world and one international conveyance-- the Diamond Princess cruise ship harboured in Yokohama, Japan. Presently, there are around 219,087 confirmed cases of COVID-19 which has led to the death of around 8,961 people. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to treat COVID-19 yet, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, and Iran have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the Novel Coronavirus.

Read: Coronavirus Live Updates: Cases soar over 180, PM Modi to address the nation at 8 pm

As of date, the total number of positive cases in India has reached 182. The maximum cases of the virus have been reported in Maharashtra and Kerala. A third death was reported in India on Tuesday in Mumbai's Kasturba Hospital. Earlier, two deaths were reported in Kalaburgi and West Delhi. 

The Centre has “strongly advised” Indians to avoid all non-essential travel abroad. The government is also monitoring all suspected cases and has issued preventive advisories. Earlier on Saturday, the Central government decided to treat the deadly virus as a "notified disaster", and has since issued even more advisories and travel restrictions.

Read: Precautionary measures stepped up after 7 Indonesians test positive for coronavirus in T'gana

Read: Delhi CM issues directives amid Coronavirus crisis, urges people to work from home