Etihad Airways has announced that it will temporarily suspend all regular flight operations at its hub Abu Dhabi, following a directive by the government of the United Arabian Emirates (UAE).
The suspension is set to start on March 26 and would initially last 14 days. Cargo and evacuation or repatriation flights are exempted.
The UAE’s Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) made the decision to prohibit all inbound, outbound as well as transfer flights in the Middle Eastern country to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
Etihad says it will announce a resumption of its flight services when these restrictions are lifted.
On Sunday, Emirates, the UAE’s largest airline, announced a full suspension of passenger services. Just two hours later, the company retracted the statement again, and said it would continue to operate flights to 13 countries. The airline is now expected to, again, confirm a cancellation of all regular flight services.
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Jakob Wert is an aviation journalist from Germany. He built up the website IFN.news and is the Editor-In-Chief of International Flight Network.
