Indonesian Lion Air has decided to pause the return to normal traffic after it proved to be significantly more difficult than expected to get travelers to comply with the restrictions introduced to curb the spread of coronavirus, according to a statement.

All Lion Air aircraft will remain grounded starting Friday, the low-cost airline, which has just resumed operations after quarantines and travel restrictions were lifted in Southeast Asia, said in a statement. The decision applies to both domestic and international flights. 

In Europe, airlines such as SAS, Norwegian, Ryanair and Lufthansa have announced that operations will resume in June and July. Staff will then be equipped with protective equipment and passengers will also be advised or ordered to use face masks.

Indonesian Lion Air is a privately owned company that, according to media reports from last winter, considered going public in March, plans that did not materialize. The company came to the attention of the world media in 2018 when a Lion Air plane of the later grounded Boeing 737 Max model crashed shortly after takeoff.

Source: Nyhetsbyrån Direkt