On Sunday, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said that non-Saudi passengers can leave the country. Last week, all international and commercial flights were suspended due to new coronavirus strain.
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will be starting flight operations to Saudi Arabia from today. For now, Riyadh has only allowed one-way flights. PIA will start flight operations to bring stranded Pakistanis, a PIA spokesman said.
The national carrier’s CEO Arshad Malik said, “It is a national responsibility to bring back Pakistanis stranded abroad.”
GACA has given approval to foreign airlines on the condition that the crew will stay in the plane.
A circular released by GACA said, “The foreign airlines permitted to operate flights for this purpose must not allow crew to leave the aircraft and not to physically contact ground operation staff of the arrival airport, taking into account precautionary measures to prevent spread of Covid-19.”
