Thailand extends ban on international passenger flights to June 30

Thai Airways airplanes park at the tarmac of the Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok, as Thailand will temporarily ban all passenger flights from landing in the country to curb the outbreak of Covid-19. - REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha/File Photo

BANGKOK (Bernama): The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) has extended the ban on all international passenger arrivals to June 30, to curb the spread of Covid-19.

In a statement Saturday (May 16), CAAT director-general Chula Sukmanop said the ban does not apply to state or military aircraft, emergency landing, technical landing without disembarkation, humanitarian, medical or relief flights, repatriation flights and cargo flights.

"The ban on international passenger flights to Thailand will be extended from June 1 at 17.00 UTC to June 30 at 17:00 UTC. All flight permits granted for such period will be cancelled.

"The passengers who arrive on the exempted flights are subject to the measures under communicable disease law, such as 14 days state quarantine, and the regulations under the emergency decree on state of emergency,” he said.

The ban was first enforced from April 4 to April 6 before it was extended to April 18. Later, it was further extended to April 30 and May 31.

Since May 1, five airlines have resumed domestic flights to 17 airports in Thailand.

Even as the Covid-19 situation in Thailand continued to improve in mid-April, Thailand has extended the state of emergency to May 31.

On Saturday, Thailand again reported zero new Covid-19 cases and fatalities, keeping the number of infections at 3,025 with 56 deaths. - Bernama