Flights to S Arabia resume as Covid suspension ends

PIA flight takes off from Multan as Saudi Airlines resumes operations from Islamabad

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan resumed the flight operation for Saudi Arabia, which was suspended because of the global Covid-19 pandemic, while the kingdom confirmed the Gulf region’s first case of the Omicron variant on Wednesday.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) aircraft took off from Multan, carrying 121 passengers and landed in Madina. Later, a Saudi Airlines flight carried 250 passengers to the port city of Jeddah from Islamabad, officials of the two airlines said.

The flight operation was suspended because of coronavirus pandemic. Recently, Riyadh lifted the air restrictions and allowed passengers from Pakistan as the pandemic situation eased in the capital. The decision was taken before the detection of the new Covid variant called Omicron.

The Omicron variant was detected by the scientists in South Africa last week. Though it was still not known where it originated it spread fast around the globe, particularly in Europe. Saudi Arabia recorded the Gulf’s first case of the Omicron variant in a citizen, who was returning from North Africa.

The PIA had announced last week that it will resume its flights for the kingdom from December 1. PIA officials said that five flights will be operated on Thursday to ferry more than 1,400 passengers from Lahore, Islamabad and Karachi to Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh and Madina.

The PIA officials added that 1,130 passengers will fly on board four PIA aircraft on Friday (tomorrow). This week, PIA would operate a total of 33 flights for the kingdom, the official said, adding that the number would be increased to 48 next week.

Simultaneously with the PIA, Saudi Airlines also resumed its flight operations from Pakistan. The first flight took off from the federal capital, carrying 250 passengers to Jeddah. The flight was seen off by Saudi Ambassador Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki.

Meanwhile, five passengers were detected Covid-19 positive in rapid antigen test (RAT) upon their arrival at Karachi airport from Riyadh. Officials said that all the five passengers were quarantined at the Sindh Government Korangi 5 Hospital.

According to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA), the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) confirmed that the suspension of direct entry to the kingdom would be lifted from 6 countries from which entry was suspended.

The Saudi official news agency identified the six countries as Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt, and India. It said that the passengers from these countries would not require the condition of spending 14 days outside the home countries before entering the kingdom.

GACA urged all the air carriers to implement the arrival procedures, which included a valid PCR certificate 72 hours before the flight, register on the Qdoom platform and the application of an institutional quarantine procedures for 5 days, regardless of the immunisation status.

On the other hand, the kingdom halted last week seven southern African countries in the wake of the outbreak of Omicron variant of coronavirus. The SPA said in a separate report that a case of the Omicron variant was detected in a Saudi citizen, arriving back from a North African country.

“An epidemiological investigation has started and the case was sent to quarantine, where accredited health procedures were followed,” the SPA reported on authority of its sources in the health ministry. Despite halt in flights from southern Africa, there was no restriction on travellers from North Africa.