Thai Airways International and Thai Air Asia have separately taken steps to prevent the spread of coronavirus pneumonia through tourist arrivals from the Chinese city of Wuhan.
Thai Air Asia, which operates two daily flights to Wuhan from Don Mueang International Airport and one daily flight from Phuket, has suspended the services beginning today (Thursday).
The parent company, Malaysia-based Air Asia, has also suspended flights from Kota Kinabalu to Wuhan.
Passengers with advance bookings can seek a refund until February 15th, or change their flights to other Chinese cities at no extra charge, depending on seat availability.
Thai Airways International (THAI) has also adopted a set of preventive measures. Mr. Pratthana Pattasnri, president of aviation safety, security and standards, said that the measures are to maintain confidence among passengers in THAI’s safety standards.
Those measures include cabin cleanliness, thermal-screening of passengers before boarding, observation of unusual symptoms of passengers while on-board and the wearing of face masks and gloves by air crew while on-board.
Chinese authorities have introduced a slew of unprecedented measures to curb the spread of coronavirus pneumonia, which include service suspension of all city buses, subways, ferries, long-distance coaches and outbound channels at airports and railway stations.
All residents of Wuhan are required to wear face masks in public places and are not allowed to leave city without a specific reason.
17 people had died and 571 cases confirmed in 25 provincial regions in China by the end of Wednesday.
