ISLAMABAD: After the lifting of the travel ban on Pakistan, the first flight departed for Saudi Arabia from the Islamabad International Airport on Wednesday.
Saudi Ambassador to Pakistan Nawaf bin Saeed Al-Maliki bade farewell to the passengers of the first flight of Saudi Airlines. On the occasion, the Saudi ambassador met the passengers and presented them flowers, calling the move a strengthening of ties between the two countries.
It may be recalled that the travel ban imposed by the KSA on six countries including Pakistan has been lifted from December 01, after which travellers from these countries can now go directly to Saudi Arabia.
The travellers will need a valid, polymerase chain reaction PCR certificate and register on the Qdoom platform 72 hours before their flight departs. They will need to enter institutional quarantine for five days when they arrive, regardless of their immunization status outside the kingdom, and will need to take tests on the first and fifth days of their quarantine.
Saudi officials said travellers from those countries would have to receive an approved booster dose of the vaccine and provide details of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Saudi Arabia suspended all flights to and from the kingdom on March 14, 2020, after the World Health Organisation declared the Covid-19 outbreak a global pandemic. Entry to the kingdom by air, land and sea resumed on January 3, 2021, though a direct entry ban was imposed on certain countries of concern the following month.
Now, however, travellers from six countries — Pakistan, India, Egypt, Indonesia, Brazil and Vietnam — can arrive in the Kingdom without having to spend 14 days outside those countries before entering Saudi Arabia.
Though Saudi Arabia has eased travel from some destinations, it has been forced to implement new restrictions on some African countries after a concerning new coronavirus variant, Omicron, was detected in South Africa last week.
Last week, Pakistan International Airlines announced plans to expand its flight operations to Saudi Arabia. “The PIA administration has decided to expand its operations to Saudi Arabia by operating 35 flights from the beginning of December to Jeddah, Riyadh, Dammam and Al-Qassim,” the airline spokesperson said last week. Flights would originate from Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan and Karachi.
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