Attendants' union wants all flights to China suspended

PETALING JAYA (Jan 31): The National Union of Flight Attendants Malaysia (Nufam) has called for airline companies to immediately suspend all flights to China owing to the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak in the People’s Republic.

“Many airlines have stopped flying into China and if all the airlines do the same, they can slow the spreading of this virus, too.

“Airlines have the responsibility to take these precautionary steps without having us to tell them what to do.

“It’s common sense as we don’t want to see unnecessary quarantine and problems for the crew when they travel to these places,” Nufam said in a statement which was reported by Free Malaysia Today.

The union also said that the lives of flight crews and passengers “must be the priority over business”, adding that “they should not be put at risk as viruses can spread easily in planes”.

“The plane is in fact the worst place to be in as there are hundreds of viruses airborne and in the matter of a few hours, they will spread. Both passengers and crew are naturally exposed when they travel for a few hours in flight,” Nufam explained.

Yesterday, the Sabah government decided to suspend all scheduled and chartered flights from China to the state with immediate effect until further notice.

Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Christina Liew said the decision was made in the interest of the people's welfare during the State Cabinet meeting on Wednesday (Jan 29).

At the Federal level, however, no decision has been made so far to restrict flights from China to Malaysia despite the World Health Organization (WHO) having announced a public health emergency of international concern over the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Transport Minister Anthony Loke said any decision on the matter should be made jointly by the Cabinet, including by taking into account the Health Ministry’s directive.

“So far we have not blocked any flights from China. What is being implemented in Sabah is that Chinese nationals flying from China are not allowed to enter Sabah. It’s a decision by the Sabah cabinet,” Loke said.

Kuwait announced yesterday that it has suspended travel to and from China and Hong Kong in the wake of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, reported Anadolu Agency.

The decision, taken by the Kuwaiti government, was announced to airline companies operating at Kuwait International Airport, the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Kuwait said in a statement.