12 photos showing runways around the world becoming plane parking lots

With thousands of flights around the world grounded due to the coronavirus pandemic, planes lay unused at airports

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With 38 countries around the world grounding flights completely, and dozens more reducing schedules by up to 90 per cent, airports have become backed up with planes unable to take to the skies.

Images from some of the world’s busiest airports show dozens of air crafts parked up on abandoned runways, or docked at unused gates.

epa08316234 Swiss International Air Lines aircrafts are parked on the tarmac at the airport in Zurich, Switzerland, 23 March 2020. Due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic a large number of flights of the Swiss carrier have been cancelled and a part of their fleet grounding at Zurich airport.  EPA/ENNIO LEANZA
Swiss International Air Lines aircrafts parked on the tarmac in Zurich. EPA

Pictures from Hong Kong International Airport show Cathay Pacific planes parked up at the side of the runway, while in Singapore, dozens of carriers including Scoot and Singapore Airlines lay unused.

In Dubai, the main hub for Emirates Airlines, dozens of the carrier's jets can be seen docked at the airport’s main terminal, with all passenger flights into and out of the UAE grounded for 14 days from Wednesday, March 25. The grounding of passenger flights was brought forward by 48 hours in a last-minute decision by the General Civil Aviation Authority. They were initially due to be stopped at midnight on Thursday March 26.

Scroll through our gallery above to see planes grounded at airports around the world.

The global controls on flights are enforced to stem the spread of Covid-19 by air travel.

UAE skies clear as flights are grounded

UAE skies clear as flights are grounded