Saudi airline to operate special flights to repatriate stranded Pakistanis

KARACHI: Saudi Arabian Airlines will operate special flights to Pakistan to repatriate Pakistani nationals stranded in the kingdom due to suspension of international flights to the country owing to the coronavirus pandemic, ARY News reported.

The Saudi government made arrangements to send Pakistanis, especially Umrah pilgrims, back to their home country. Pakistani passengers other than pilgrims will be required to bear their travel expenses.

The first flight (SV-3734) carrying Umrah pilgrims will land at Lahore airport on April 13, which will be followed by two flights, SV-3708 and SV-3700, that will touch down at Karachi airport on April 14.

Another flight SV-3734 is slated to arrive in Lahore on April 15, while the last flight will land in Karachi on April 16.

On April 11, the Foreign Office’s Crisis Management Cell had said a total of 1,098 Pakistanis have been repatriated from different countries in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Of the total returnees, 101 citizens arrived from the United Arab Emirates on March 24, while another 40 citizens flew back from Qatar via a private airline’s flight on the same day. 170 Pakistanis were airlifted from Thailand on March 28.

A Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) special flight brought back 194 Pakistanis from Turkey on April 3, whereas another 131 Pakistanis arrived from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan on April 6.

136 citizens were repatriated from Iraq on April 8 and 126 from Azerbaijan on April 11. Another 200 Pakistanis flew back from Malaysia on the same date.