Cairo: Egypt’s national carrier, EgyptAir, has said it will fly to Saudi Arabia to bring back home Egyptians stranded there amid travel restrictions prompted by the global coronavirus outbreak.
Saudi Arabia Monday extended suspension of international flights for one more week as part of measures to prevent the spread of a new strain of COVID-19.
However, the Saudi General Authority of Civil Aviation has allowed airlines operating in the kingdom to operate flights to transport non-Saudi passengers to outside the kingdom.
EgyptAir head Rushdy Zakaria said that the airline will fly to Saudi Arabia to carry Egyptians stranded there. “The planes will fly without any passengers from Cairo to bring back passengers from there after the kingdom has allowed entry of aircraft to carry non-Saudis only,” he said.
“There will be no increase in ticket prices to compensate the vacant flights,” Zakaria added.
EgyptAir will also resume flights with Oman, which said it will end a week-long closure of its land, air and sea borders as of Tuesday.
Oman has made PCR testing mandatory for all travellers arriving in the Sultanate.
“Every passenger must do a PCR test for the coronavirus and have a negative result 72 hours before travel at most,” Zakaria told Egyptian private television Al Hadath Al Youm Monday night. The flights are due to operate today.
