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New Covid-19 variant: Saudi suspends international flights for one more week, non-citizens can fly out in chartered flights

Riyadh - The decision was a precautionary measure against the spread of the new variant of Covid-19, which had been detected in a number of countries.

Saudi Arabia announced late on Sunday that it will continue the suspension of international flights for one more week.

Last Sunday, Saudi Arabia had shut all its land, air and sea ports for one week amid reports of the appearance of a new mutated strain of Covid-19 in a number of European countries.

However, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), has directed airlines operating in the airports of the Kingdom to transport non-Saudi passengers outside Saudi, in total compliance with the precautionary measures to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The GACA has given permission to foreign airlines to operate chartered flights for this purpose on the condition that the crew of a landing plane at the airports do not leave their plane, and that they do not physically have contact with the ground/operation staff of the airport.

The authority clarified that these instructions do not include the countries where the new mutated strain of coronavirus has appeared and that is in accordance with the decision of the competent health authorities. The GACA also instructed that the airlines must coordinate with the Air Transport Department about this before applying for flights.