Countries in Region Cancel Flight To & From Iran, Close Borders

Turkish Airlines has cancelled its flights to four Iranian cities and decreased the frequency of flights to Tehran until Feb. 27, the company said on Monday. The company said it cancelled flights to Mashhad, Isfahan, Tabriz and Shiraz until that date. It also decreased the frequency of Tehran flights to two per day.

Tajikistan has suspended flights to and from Iran due to the spread of the new coronavirus there, the Central Asian nation’s government said on Monday. The air link will remain suspended until the virus situation in Iran stabilizes, the Civil Aviation Agency said in a statement.

Qatar will ask passengers arriving from Iran and South Korea to remain in home isolation or a quarantine facility for 14 days over fears of new coronavirus outbreak, Qatar Airways said in a statement on Monday. Qatar Airways said passengers coming from Iran and South Korea will be quarantined for 14 days.

The United Arab Emirates banned its citizens from traveling to Iran and Thailand as a precautionary measure against the coronavirus.

Dubai International Airport has suspended all flights to and from Iran, with the exception of its capital Tehran, an airport representative said on Tuesday (Feb 25).

Turkey suspended railway services over its Iranian border due to the spread of the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19, to Iran.  "Reciprocal services between Turkey and Iran of the Trans-Asia Express and Van-Tehran passenger trains and freight trains were temporarily halted as of 5.00 p.m. local time (1400GMT) on Sunday," the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) announced on Monday. The move came as the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran has been increasing, with the latest official death toll at 12. The statement cited Turkey's temporary border closure with the country on Sunday. Ankara also halted flights from Iran to prevent the spread of the virus.

Oman halted all commercial flights with Iran starting Monday, according to a tweet by the civil aviation authority.

Armenia closed its land border with Iran for two weeks and implemented a number of other measures to prevent the disease from appearing in the country. Armenia also suspended consular services at its embassy in Tehran and urged citizens to not visit Iran unless necessary.

In connection with numerous appeals, the press-service of Azerbaijan Airlines CJSC reports that Buta Airways currently does not plan to make changes to the current flight schedule to Iran. - Reuters, Eurasia Net, Strait Times, Azer Tag, Bloomberg, Anadolu Agency, Channel News Asia