😷 COVID - Potential Lockdown: Airport closures?

Hi,

Does anyone know if the airports will be closed if the country enters lockdown? Would citizens of other countries be able to leave and get back home, or would they be trapped here until the lockdown ends? The increase in numbers has me concerned, especially since I work at a cram school. I worry that the school will be closed for an extended period of time, and I’m not sure I have the finances to live here without being paid for an undetermined amount of time. I’ve looked online and at government websites but can’t find anything to confirm whether or not citizens of other countries will be able to leave. Thanks!

Also, I know the lockdown might just be a few weeks, but I spent most of last year in a country that was predicting a short lockdown, and that lockdown ended up lasting 5 months. I just want to be prepared in case things get considerably worse.

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Extremely unlikely. There isn’t precedent for it anywhere around the world.

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Nobody here knows. I doubt anyone anywhere knows. Probably not, because as far as I’m aware no airports have been closed due to this anywhere in the world, although maybe there are glaring counter-examples I’m unaware of.

(Mods, I dunno, maybe there should be a thread of “COVID questions no one can possibly answer”? A few of them are already accumulating!)

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Maybe this is a partial answer to your question? I know some people who were in Singapore in April, 2020 as things were starting to go downhill there and they decided to leave when the US embassy (they’re American ) sent them a list of last available flights to the United States in the near future. Now, this is over a year later, so I don’t think anything that dire will happen again, but perhaps it’s worth being registered with your country’s embassy (if possible) so you could receive messages like that. But, realistically, I wouldn’t think that Taoyuan airport would be shut down. But anything is possible. But not probable (I would hope)

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Australia reverted to its prison colony status over a year ago and still hasn’t let up.

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Airports have been closed for a year, and non-Australians have been unable to fly out? Because that’s what the OP is asking about.

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Actually, yes. I know a woman who lives in Sydney. Airports are open, but to leave the country, you need an excuse (seeing family is not valid) and she said it is often denied.

I’d be more worried about airlines cutting and cancelling flights, self pay COVID tests for travelers getting harder to come by, or testing positive for the virus and not being able to get out until you can find a hospital to provide documentation of recovery.

But isn’t that for Aussie citizens? Is Australia really banning citizens of other countries who are there from repatriating?

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Oh, yes, that is for citizens. Others can probably leave and not come back. Sorry, I didn’t read closely enough. My mistake.

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Airports closing is highly unlikely. Less flights is also unlikely because the flights operating today survive on cargo, not passengers. The most likely outcome is a small increase in ticket price for people who want to leave, but there will be seats and flights available.

Serious question, do cargo ships here allow paying passengers? I wouldn’t mind taking a slow boat to L.A. (or some other west coast port) instead of dealing with the insane airline nonsense again.

I never seen or heard of booking passage on cargo ships. I imagine there are all kinds of liability reasons why they wouldn’t. All I can think of are cruise ships.

Thailand did suspend incoming passenger flights making it nearly impossible to leave and I believe Phuket airport was actually closed.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-thailand-idUSKBN21L2WT

Probably not possible during covid, from what I know it’s cheaper to fly business class than travel with cargo ships.

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Don’t know the current situation, but I looked into this a few years ago and was surprised by how expensive it is (it’s definitely not a cheap option compared to flying, even for pricier tickets).

This is another case where a cursory google search before commenting would be useful. People do this, irrespective of whether you’ve heard of it. And yes, everybody knows about cruise ships.

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Not everyone. There were cruise ships to Okinawa and at one time Macau. I took the one to Macau. The one to Okinawa was a famous smuggling route I think both are out of service. The Macau one was dirt cheap, then from Macau other boats would go to different countries. I think if the OP is very concerned making a move sooner than later is a good choice. You can always come back after getting vaccinated in the future.

Not everyone what? I think we may have crossed wires here - I was referring to the concept that cruise ships exist, which I suspect everyone knows but OP wasn’t asking about, not about specific cruise ship routes from Taiwan. My point was that some people do indeed travel by cargo ship (historically - not sure about at the moment), even if TL hasn’t heard of it.

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If commercial air options get cut and self pay COVID tests are not available in the coming days, maybe a group of American Formosans can band together to charter a private jet. Not sure you’d even need to charter a flight directly to the US. You’d just need to get to an airport somewhere in Asia where you can get a COVID test and then board a commercial flight to the US. Tokyo perhaps. :sunglasses:

Charter a fishing boat to the Philippines.:rofl:

I phoned Singapore Airlines today about flights to London and she was very clear something could change—here, because of covid and transit in Singapore that could become more rigorous. The authorities have said lockdowns will occur if there are over 100 cases for 14 days. However, they might change as long as it doesn;t go over 1000 a day. But if they keep to that, it takes us to aroind 29 May, Right now, a lot of flights to London are changing or disappearing. Singapore and Turkish comes up less and KLM more. I am eying a flight on 27 May with KLM. Hopefully if there is a lockdown, the government will tell foreigners they have 2 weeks to leave or something like that. Basically, little information is being released. Maybe plan your flight before the end of the month and assume it will be okay? Abother worry for me is that Taiwan slips onto the UK red list that makes the rules for getting back a lot harder. Another reason to exit soon.

Where to get a covid test with Taipei and Newe Taipei already quasi lockeddown?