Updated on March 26, 2020:
***Malaysia Airlines will reduce its capacity from March 22 until June 30. Details can be found here.***
Malaysia Airlines said it will “significantly” reduce its overall network following the nationwide movement control order imposed by the Malaysian government until March 31.
Under the nationwide movement restriction order, Malaysian citizens are not allowed to leave the country, while those abroad are allowed to return but will be subject to medical screening procedures upon arrival and self-quarantine for 14 days.
Meanwhile, foreign nationals are not allowed to enter the country, but those in Malaysia are allowed to leave.
According to the airline, passengers on transit are allowed to head to their onward destinations, but they are subject to “current protocols”.
The Malaysian national airline said it suspended flights to India from March 17 until March 31, and also cancelled flights to the Philippines between March 21 and March 31, following the two governments’ ban on travel to and from Malaysia.
According to India’s ministry of foreign affairs, travellers coming from Malaysia are now banned from entering India until March 31.
Philippines has also expanded its travel ban to all countries which have localised transmission of the viral disease, according to CNN Philippines. The Metropolitan Manila area is also placed under community quarantine until April 14.
Metro Manila to be placed on lockdown for one month amid coronavirus outbreak
The airline added that it had already suspended services to Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Beijing Daxing, as well as flights from Kota Kinabalu to Shanghai due to the border controls prior to the order. It had also reduced capacity to Australia and New Zealand due to the self-isolation policies imposed by the two countries.
Business Traveller Asia-Pacific has reached out to the airline for more information about these affected services.
Commenting on the flight reductions, Izham Ismail, Malaysia Airlines Group chief executive officer, said: “The situation has been rather fluid these past two days since we have had to make last minute cancellations to abide by the restrictions.
“The uncoordinated approach has posed great challenges to our operations, but we are doing our best to re-route passengers via reallocation onto other carriers. This is an added cost to our operations.
“We are also adjusting our low-load flights by cancelling and merging them to manage costs while managing our customer expectations. To date we have cancelled more than 4,000 flights.”
The airline now offers rebooking and refund options for affected travellers. Details can be found here.
