PIA expands Saudi Arabia operations as kingdom allows direct entry from Pakistan

KARACHI: Pakistan International Airlines announced to expand its flight operations to Saudi Arabia two days after the kingdom lifted an entry ban on expats from six countries that was introduced to curb the spread of COVID-19.
The Saudi interior ministry allowed fully vaccinated expatriates from Pakistan, Indonesia, Brazil, Vietnam, Egypt and India to enter the kingdom without spending 14 days in transit outside of their countries.
The policy will take effect from December 1.
“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, Abdullah Khan, told Arab News, adding that the decision to further expand the operations would be taken after evaluating the travel demand.
He said the flights would originate from Pakistani cities of Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan and Karachi.
The Saudi interior ministry said in its statement on Thursday expats arriving from unbanned countries should spend five days in quarantine outside the kingdom regardless of their vaccination status.
It added that all procedures and measures in relation to the pandemic were subject to continuous evaluation by the kingdom’s health authorities.
Saudi officials also instructed the expatriates to undergo all health measures to ensure they are free from coronavirus infection.
The PIA spokesperson maintained all passengers would need to ensure compliance with the Saudi rules.
It may be recalled that Saudi Arabia suspended all flights to and from the kingdom on March 14, 2020, after the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 outbreak as a global pandemic.
Entry to the kingdom by air, land and sea resumed on January 3, 2021, though it imposed a direct entry ban on certain countries of concern the next month.