‘Singapore’s Changi airport was empty!’
Indians travelling abroad are thronging the Gulf transit airports of Dubai, Doha and Kuwait, staying well clear of the South East Asian (SEA) transit hubs of Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand as well Hong Kong in East Asia due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This, in turn, has pushed up airfares to the US or Europe via Gulf airports by 15-20 per cent, whereas there are no takers for flights via these South East Asian airports and Hong Kong.
Vyjanthi Krishnan was supposed to travel from Chennai to New York via Singapore to visit her children in June but cancelled the ticket and instead booked via Dubai. This is the case with thousands of others. Even those who are planning to come to India have postponed their trips, said travel agents.
