Kuwait City: After the government announced direct flights from six countries will be allowed to resume, the Civil Aviation is awaiting the schedule to resume direct flights from Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh, a local newspaper stated.
It is expected that within a few days, direct flights from the three countries will operate and a schedule with the timing and airline carriers will be announced.
As of Sunday, direct flights between Egypt and Kuwait have resumed with around eight flights arriving in the country daily. Direct flights from India began operating again as of Tuesday with approximately five flights a day. So far, there is one direct flight from Pakistan arriving in Kuwait every day.
This comes after a ban was placed on direct flights traveling to Kuwait from the six countries as part of several travel restrictions enforced during the year and a half long pandemic.
Ticket prices
With many residents awaiting return to Kuwait and a limited number of seats on each flight, some airlines have increased fares.
The first few days of the resumption of flights between Kuwait and Egypt, one-way tickets jumped to around 500 Kuwaiti dinars, a steep increase compared to the average which is around 112 Kuwaiti dinars.
That said, the Board of Directors of the Union of Tourism and Travel Offices, Hussein Al Sulaiten, said prices have dropped for those looking to travel back to Kuwait from Egypt in mid to end of September to around 300-350 Kuwaiti dinars.
As for flights from India to Kuwait, there are around five Indian airlines offering their service with the average price around 240 Kuwaiti dinars. In addition, Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways also have direct flights from a number of Indian cities.
Children under 18
On Monday, the Cabinet of Ministers announced those unvaccinated and under the age of 18 can travel to Kuwait as long as they quarantine in a hotel for seven days. In addition, they need to take a pledge that they will receive the vaccine, if they are above the age of 12 years old, once they arrive in the country.
Expat children are also included in the decision and can enter Kuwait as long as they have a valid residency permit.
The decision comes as only vaccinated residents, as of August 1, can travel to Kuwait. Passengers must be vaccinated with two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Oxford-AstraZeneca or Moderna vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
