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Vietnam Airlines will temporarily suspend all of its South Korea flights beginning March 5 over concerns about the novel coronavirus outbreak, the carrier said. As of March 1, Vietnam Airlines flights from South Korea to Hanoi’s Noi Bai International Airport and Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City are being rerouted to Van Don International Airport in Quang Ninh province and Can Tho International Airport, respectively, the airline said. Passengers on these flights must undergo health checks and isolation for 14 days at locations arranged by Vietnamese regulators. Vietnam Airlines passengers who have been in Italy or Iran within the past 14 days will be isolated for 14 days before entering Vietnam, the carrier said.<br/>

Kenya Airways has received a US$49m loan from the government to cover an engine overhaul programme for its fleet of Embraer E190 regional jets. ”The cash injection will cater for overhaul of 11 Embraer engines, which is required every eight years in order to uphold the highest levels of safety and maintain reliability and planned network schedules,” the airline says, in disclosing the loan from Kenya’s National Treasury. Kenya Airways chairman Michael Joseph says: ”I would like to thank the government of Kenya for making these funds available to us. The Embraer fleet is our largest and is the network workhorse. We also plan on undertaking refurbishments on our two Boeing 737-700 aircraft.” The operator has been in ongoing restructuring after several years of losses and last summer Kenya’s parliament voted in favour of nationalising the airline as part of plans to safeguard its aviation sector.<br/>