Mongolia reopens for international flights

Mongolia, which has been closed for more than a year due to COVID-19, has reopened for approved scheduled international flights since June 1, 2021, the official Mongolian News Agency reports. The Mongolian Cabinet announced the decision to reopen on May 31. The country suspended international passenger flights in mid-February last year to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Mongolian nationals could now travel to more than ten countries with open borders, including Turkey, the United States, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Egypt, and India. However, only citizens who had received two doses of the COVID vaccine would be allowed to leave the country. To increase the number of countries where Mongolians could travel, the government would issue certificates to citizens who have been vaccinated and hold diplomatic talks with China, Russia, South Korea, Kazakhstan, the UK, and Hungary, the news agency reported. National carrier MIAT – Mongolian Airlines (OM, Ulaanbaatar) made no official announcement about the restart of its flights but has scheduled one return flight a week between Ulaanbaatar and Seoul Incheon, South Korea from June 5, 2021, using a B737-800, the ch-aviation schedules module reveals. No flights are, however, as yet bookable on the company’s website. FlightRadar24 ADS B-data reveals the movements of a MIAT B737-800, JU-1015 (msn 41318), between Ulaanbaatar, Seoul, Ekaterinburg, and Frankfurt Int’l in May. MIAT also converted select aircraft in its fleet into makeshift freighters for cargo flights during the pandemic while international passenger services remained grounded. Hunnu Air (MR, Ulaanbaatar) appears to have conducted domestic flights between Ulaanbaatar, Ulaangom, and Ulgit, using ATR72-500, FlightRadar24 ADS-B data shows. The airline conducted repatriation flights to Delhi Int’l and Kabul during the pandemic, according to information on its website.