Saudi Arabia Severely Curtails Travel Through Its Airports

Saudi Arabian Airlines has announced draconian measures to deal with the Covid-19 virus, as concern in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) mounts about the region's ability to contain the outbreak in a global crossroads.

The airline has announced several updates on curtailment of services, suspending the arrival of all passengers from the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Lebanon, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Italy, and South Korea to any of the kingdom's airports, or any passengers who had been in any of those countries in the last 14 days before arrival in the kingdom.

Authorities temporarily have put on hold the year-round Umrah pilgrimage and suspended the entry of GCC country citizens to the two holy cities of Makkah and Medina, “except for GCC countries' citizens who have a permit for that, which can be obtained through the website of the Ministry of Hajj and Umrah.”

Meanwhile, Riyadh has rescinded tourist visas, which newly became available online last year, for nationals from the People's Republic of China, as well as Iran, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Philippines, Singapore, India, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Somalia, and Vietnam.

UAE airlines Emirates, Flydubai, and Air Arabia announced updated fee waiver policies for passengers and confirmed the cancellation of several services to Saudi Arabia.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways on Monday suspended “temporarily all flights between Abu Dhabi and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in response to a directive from the General Authority for Civil Aviation, Saudi Arabia, to help prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus,” it said. Etihad had operated up to 12 flights per day between the two countries. 

Kuwait's Directorate General of Civil Aviation informed airlines operating at Kuwait International Airport on March 7 of the suspension of all flights to and from Bangladesh, the Philippines, India, Sri Lanka, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt for one week to assess the measures adopted to stem the spread of Covid-19 virus.

Emirates travel guidance updated Monday said several countries had imposed travel and immigration restrictions. “All customers are requested to check relevant travel advisories from and to the countries to which they are traveling," it said. "This is a dynamic situation and it is the responsibility of the customer to ensure there are no entry restrictions at their travel destination."

Separately, a spokesperson for Saudia confirmed yesterday that CEO Jaan Albrecht had stepped down as of February, and Ibrahim Koshy, a Saudi national, took over the position. Koshy has served as a pilot for the airline for more than 28 years. The graduate of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University also served as director-general of the kingdom’s Aviation Investigation Bureau from 2012 to 2016 and was Saudi Arabia’s vice president of safety and quality from 2016 to 2017.