Foreigners Barred From Entering Kingdom of Saudi Over Coronavirus Scare, IndiGo Offers Full Refund

In light of the global outbreak of Coronavirus, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has temporarily suspended the entry of non-Saudis into the Kingdom with Tourist visas. And in light of the same, budget air-carrier IndiGo has announced that it will refund the ticket amount of all the impacted passengers who were travelling to the Kingdom. The spread of the deadly Coronavirus has affected flight operations of several carriers disrupting both domestic and international routes equally.

In a similar move, Vistara has announced the cancellation of several of its flights due to Coronavirus. As a result, 20 flights between Delhi and Bangkok, 26 flights between Mumbai and Singapore and 8 flights between Delhi and Singapore will be cancelled in March 2020. Customers booked on any of the cancelled flights can either opt for a full refund (no cancellation fee) or change to alternatives dates free of cost (no re-issuance fee).

On Tuesday, he tiny island nation of Bahrain suspended flights to the world's busiest airport for international travel in Dubai on Tuesday over fears about the spread of a new virus. The move by Bahrain, a small island off the coast of Saudi Arabia, suggested its monarchy had doubts about screenings of incoming passengers in Dubai and nearby Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates. It said the ban was immediate and would last at least 48 hours. Bahrain counted its first case of the coronavirus that causes the COVID-19 illness on Monday in a school bus driver who transited Dubai while coming from Iran.

Dubai International Airport did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Officials at Sharjah's airport could not be immediately reached. Dubai has been screening passengers on incoming flights from China, where the outbreak began. Long-haul carriers Emirates and Etihad are among the few international airlines still flying to Beijing. However, the outbreak in Iran only became public in recent days.