The Italian ministry of foreign affairs is co-ordinating a series of special flights, operated by national flag carrier Alitalia, to repatriate thousands of Italians stranded abroad due to travel bans over the Coronavirus outbreak in Italy. On the night of 15 March a plane left Rome for the Maldives, stopping off in Cairo to change crew in order to respect the ban on Italians from entering the Maldives.

From Cairo the plane will continue to its destination, without any passengers, to collect the stranded Italians before returning to Rome on 17 March. This is an example of one of numerous special flights being organised by Italy's foreign affairs ministry which has been busy negotiating landing permits with embassies and consulates of countries that have closed their airports to arrivals from Italy.