An Air Arabia aircraft in mid-flight. (Twitter)
The United Arab Emirates’ Air Arabia has announced the resumption of direct flights between Sharjah and Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam starting September 14, 2021. Customers of the low-cost carrier can now book direct flights between Sharjah and three destinations in the Kingdom.
All passengers traveling to the Saudi Arabia are required to download the “Tawakkalna” mobile application before departure and upload their vaccination status. Passengers are also be urged to check the travel updates on Air Arabia’s website before departure.
Air Arabia has introduced free COVID-19 insurance coverage for passengers to ensure standards of safety, in addition to enforcing health and safety protocols. The insurance is automatically included as part of the booking and no additional documents are required from passengers, the airline said in a press statement.
Saudi Arabia announced lifting the COVID-19 travel ban placed on the UAE, Argentina, and South Africa on September 8, allowing the resumption of movement between the Kingdom and the three countries from September 11.
The Saudi Ministry of Interior stated that based on continuous monitoring of the epidemiological situation locally and globally it decided to allow entry to the Kingdom through land and sea borders, and airports.
However, the Kingdom’s ministry stressed the importance of adhering to all the precautionary and preventive measures adopted.
“The Ministry of Interior calls upon citizens wishing to travel to the countries to which travel is permitted to be careful, stay away from areas where the virus is spreading, and follow all precautionary measures, regardless of their destination,” the Saudi Press Agency reported citing the Kingdom’s interior ministry.
In May, Saudi Arabia allowed its citizens vaccinated against the coronavirus to travel after a year-long ban. It later decided to allow only fully vaccinated citizens to travel from August 9.
Saudi Arabia suspended travel to and from the UAE along with Vietnam and Ethiopia on July 3, after the neighboring due to record cases of the highly transmissible delta variant being reported.
