No international flights to Thailand before July
Aviation authority says ban on commercial routes to stay for now
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand has today announced an
extension of their current ban on international travel another month,
until at least the end of June, 2020.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Thailand (CAAT) on Saturday announced
it will renew the ban on international commercial flights into the
kingdom until the end of next month to continue the fight against
Covid-19.
The ban was put in place on April 27 amid the Covid-19
outbreak through an order set to expire this month, according to CAAT
director-general Chula Sukmanop.
He said that prolonging the ban would give the authorities more time to fight Covid-19.
The ban was invoked under Sections 27 and 28 of the 1954 Air Navigation Act, Mr Chula said.
He said the ban is not absolute as certain flights are still allowed to land, such as those involving state or military aircraft, Covid-19 humanitarian aid, medicine, emergency landings and the repatriation of Thais from overseas.
Mr Chula said those arriving on the flights are subject to a 14-day
quarantine, among other measures imposed by the emergency decree.
CAAT has the authority to resume both national and international
flights. Last week it backtracked on a decision to reopen Phuket
International Airport after citing infection risks.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam said Prime
Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has ordered officials to study the laws that
could be used after the emergency decree is lifted.
Mr Wissanu said the premier wants to know if there is a legal tool
that can be as effective as the emergency decree in containing the novel
coronavirus.
He dismissed speculation that martial law would replace the decree,
but said if no other law can be found to control Covid-19, the
government will have only the Communicable Diseases Act (CDA) at its
disposal.
Mr Wissanu said the act may not give sufficient legal coverage to deal with the spread of the virus.
He said the CDA grants autonomy to each provincial governor to take
control in their respective areas, adding there are 77 standards
available.
Since the emergency decree was introduced, provincial governors have
carried less of a burden in dealing with the economic impact of
businesses going under lockdown, Mr Wissanu said, adding the government
has centralised power under the decree.
"We still have about 15 more days to decide whether to keep or end
the emergency decree," he said, referring to the expiry date on May 31.
In addition, Gen Somsak Roongsita, secretary-general of the National
Security Council, responded to concerns raised over a possible
resurgence of the Covid-19 outbreak as the kingdom continues to relax
restrictions on economic activities.
Gen Somsak said the government is looking into the next phase of relaxed lockdown.
However, if the loosening gives rise to new transmissions, the measures could be reversed.
He said non-essential travels between provinces should be avoided as quarantine measures are still in effect.
The nation-wide curfew, although shortened, must still be adhered to, Gen Somsak added.
A proposal has been made to cut the curfew hours even further, from 11pm-4am effective from tonight, to 11pm-3am.
The revised hours are being urged by people who need to do business in the morning markets.
The current ban on scheduled
international flights was extended last month to cover May, up to May
31. But now the CAAT have announced the extension for at least another
month. There was no specific reason given for the extension beyond the
government’s narrative of “protecting Thailand from further outbreaks of
Covid-19”.
So the earliest any foreigners will be able to fly
into Thailand will be at least July, assuming the ban isn’t extended
further. There are still 1000s of Thais waiting to repatriate and it
could take at least another month to get them all back with expensive
chartered flights and onerous paperwork required before they can return.
As
per the current ban, it will still allow chartered repatriation flights
of Thai citizens, military aircraft, emergency and medical flights. But
no scheduled commercial flights are allowed under the current ban.
Meanwhile,
only limited domestic flights from five airports in Thailand – Chiang
Mai, Chiang Rai, Suvarnabhumi, Don Mueang and Hat Yai – are currently in
service with limited seating available and health-related paperwork
mandatory.
Just yesterday the CAAT also did a quick U-Turn on the
proposal to re-open Phuket International Airport today, saying that it
will now remain closed indefinitely.
Source: https://thethaiger.com; https://www.bangkokpost.com
lowed into China.
END
Source: Xinhua;Globle Times
Breaking: Foreign airlines limited to 1 flight/week from Sunday
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