The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has unveiled its schedule for operating direct flights to Saudi Arabia 1 after the Kingdom decided to allow direct flights from the country from December 1, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

As per the schedule, the PIA administration will operate 35 weekly flights to Saudi Arabia. These flights will cover Saudi cities of Jeddah, Madinah, Riyadh, Damam and Al-Qassim and will take off from Lahore, Multan, Islamabad, Karachi and Peshawar.

The PIA has also launched its booking operation for Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government has granted permission to six countries including Pakistan to operate direct flights into the Kingdom.

It is mandatory for Pakistani travellers to undergo five-day quarantine after landing in Saudi Arabia.

Two days ago, Federal Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry had announced that Saudi Arabia had decided to allow direct flights from Pakistan from December 1 after lifting a ban.

In a tweet, Fawad Chaudhry said the Saudi directive would become effective from Wednesday.

Saudi authorities have decided to withdraw a ban on flights from six countries — Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Egypt, Bra­­zil and Vietnam — and passengers from these countries will no longer be requ­ired to undergo a 14-day quarantine in a third country.

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Saudi Arabia had issued temporary restric­tions on travellers from the six countries who had not received two doses of Covid-19 vaccines in the kingdom.

A directive, issued by the Saudi Arabian General Authority of Civil Aviation to all airlines operating in the kingdom’s airports, said: “Allowing direct entry to the kingdom from the Republic of Indonesia, Islamic Republic of Pakis­tan, Federal Republic of Brazil, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, Arab Republic of Egypt, (and) India, without the need to stay 14 days outside these countries before entering the kingdom.

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“Institutional quarantine procedures must be applied for a period of 05 days, regardless of passengers’ immunisation status outside the kingdom, with the continued application of exceptions issued regarding some groups in this regard...”

Reporter Usman Javed