Pakistan’s private carrier Airblue is also expected to resume operation in a few days while SereneAir has also been given permission to start Dubai operations.

Ahmed Amjad Ali, consul-general of the Pakistan Consulate in Dubai, said it Pakistan completed its repatriation of stranded citizens in the UAE and, now, people can fly back to the country on regular flights, reported Khaleej Times.

He said it was the largest repatriation programme carried out in the country’s history, with up to 90 per cent of stranded Pakistanis flown home from the UAE since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Pakistan’s private carrier Airblue is also expected to resume operation in a few days while SereneAir has also been given permission to start Dubai operations, Ali said.

Those flying from the UAE wouldn’t need to present any negative Covid-19 test, he added.

More than 60,000 Pakistanis were stranded in the UAE. Some lost their jobs while others were on visit visas and couldn’t fly back when international flights were suspended.

Out of this total, 55,000 to 60,000 people from Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been sent back on PIA flights and those operated by UAE carriers, Ali said.

Besides repatriating stranded nationals, the consulate transported 208 bodies of Pakistanis whose deaths were not related to Covid-19. Fifty-two people who died of the virus were buried locally.

The mission has also helped and distributed ration to as many as 17,000 needy Pakistanis families and individuals in Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

“During this operation, the consulate provided accommodation and food to 460 Pakistanis in Dubai and Northern Emirates and then sent them back to Pakistan. Through its own resources, the consulate distributed free tickets among 561 Pakistanis,” Ali told the media in Dubai.