Dubai [UAE], Mar 24 : The United Arab Emirates (UAE) government has issued a directive to suspend all passenger flights starting from March 25 amid the coronavirus pandemic which has claimed over 14,000 lives globally.
"As per the UAE government's directive, Emirates will temporarily suspend all passenger services from 25 March 2020. We are very sorry for any inconvenience caused to our customers and travellers. These measures are in place to contain the spread of COVID-19, and we hope to resume services as soon as feasible," an Emirates Airline release read.
On Sunday, Emirates airline had announced that they will temporarily suspend all passenger flights by 25 March.
"Today we made the decision to temporarily suspend all passenger flights by 25 March 2020. SkyCargo operations will continue. This painful but pragmatic move will help Emirates Group preserve business viability and secure jobs worldwide, avoiding cuts," the company wrote on Twitter.
According to the Khaleej Times, the virus has so far infected over 190 people in the UAE.
Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive of Emirates Group had said: "The world has literally gone into quarantine due to the COVID-19 outbreak. This is an unprecedented crisis situation in terms of breadth and scale: geographically, as well as from a health, social, and economic standpoint. Until January 2020, the Emirates Group was doing well against our current financial year targets. But COVID-19 has brought all that to a sudden and painful halt over the past 6 weeks."
"As a global network airline, we find ourselves in a situation where we cannot viably operate passenger services until countries re-open their borders, and travel confidence returns. By Wednesday 25 March, although we will still operate cargo flights which remain busy, Emirates will have temporarily suspended most of its passenger operations," he added.
So far, the worldwide tally of the lethal coronavirus has reached 332,935 and over 14,510 people have died, according to the WHO.
( With inputs from ANI )