National flag carrier Vietnam Airlines will temporarily suspend all flights between Vietnam and Korea starting March 5 until further notice due to worrisome developments of Covid-19 in that country.

An A350 airplane owned by Vietnam Airlines. Photo: Vietnam Airlines

The carrier's flights on the March 3-4 from Seoul (Incheon Airport), Busan (Gimhae Airport) to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City will be rerouted to land at Van Don airport in Quang Ninh province, Phu Cat airport in Quy Nhon province and Can Tho airport in Can Tho at the request of Vietnamese aviation authorities.

To ensure everyone's safety, the entire crew on these flights will be equipped with medical protective gear. The airline also disinfects all aircraft returning from South Korea, Vietnam Airlines said in a statement on Monday evening.

Before Vietnam Airlines, maiden airline Bamboo Airways was the first Vietnamese carrier to suspend air services from/to South Korea on February 26.

Two Korean airlines Korean Air and Asiana Airlines have announced that they would deeply cut flights to many Vietnamese destinations in March due to the spread of the new coronavirus.

Vietnamese authorities last month banned all air services between Vietnam and China.

The epidemic has caused traveling demand to plunge. Vietnamese airlines are estimated to suffer a loss of VND25 trillion (US$1.07 billion) in revenues this year.

Vietnam Airlines’ CEO Duong Tri Thanh has told media that the epidemic has blown up the carrier’s profit accumulated in the past four to five years. Some 40 airplanes of the carrier have been made idle.