GACA (General Authority of Civil Aviation) has now confirmed the date to all Local Airports in Saudi Arabia that it will be lifting its travel ban from 17th May 2021, which means All International flights will resume on 17th May 2021.

All International Flights will resume from 17th May in Saudi

From May 17 all regular operations will be followed by International Flights from Saudi Arabia as per GACA. Earlier, the lift on travel ban was announced for March and then it was pushed to 7th May due to new strain of Coronavirus.

Though, the authority said that it may continue suspending travel to & fro from specific countries where the COVID situation is pathetic.

The authority stressed the need to adhere to the preventive protocols & precautionary measures as well as instructions issued by the concerned higher committee in this regard to stem the spread of coronavirus epidemic in the Kingdom.

International Flights Resumption in Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Engineer Abdullah Al-Shahrani at Saudi Arabian Airlines Company has confirmed the readiness of to resume international flights, while calling on the citizens to continuously follow the Saudi Airlines website and social media accounts to get more information.

Attending Ya Hala program of Rotana Khaleejia channel, Al-Shahrani said that the national carrier (Saudi Airlines) is ready for resumption of international flights in terms of operational, technical and administrative matters, and there is direct coordination with the (GACA) General Authority of Civil Aviation and the official authorities.

#فيديو#مفرح_الشقيقي يسأل م. عبدالله الشهراني: هل سيعود الطيران الدولي فعلا في 30 مارس بالكامل؟#برنامج_ياهلا@Saudi_Airlines@Mofareh5 pic.twitter.com/DZ5JfcBbzf

— برنامج ياهلا (@YaHalaShow) January 26, 2021

Al-Shahrani called upon all the citizens and residents of Saudi Arabia to follow the official website & social media account of Saudi Airlines to get regular updates on the list of countries allowed to travel to. He noted that air travel is still closed to some countries where the mutated virus was spread

All International Flights in Saudi Arabia to Resume from March

• People coming from the United States or South Africa or any other country specified by the ministry of health, in which the new variant of COVID-19 is spreading rapidly must have to live in quarantine for 14 days in their own country and must take a COVID test proving that they are infection-free.
• Citizens who have permission to enter into the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for humanitarian or urgent cases from the country specified by the Ministry of Health should follow the above condition along with 14 days quarantine after arrival and two tests must be conducted after arrival, one within 48 hours of arrival and the second at the ending of the quarantine.
• People coming from the countries in which only strains of the new variant of COVID-19 must have to be in quarantine for seven days and must conduct a COVID test at the end of the quarantine period. 
• The procedure for the rest of the countries is that the people coming to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia must be quarantined for a period of seven days and must conduct a COVID test.

International Flights Open Now in Saudi

Please refer to the airlines schedule for flight availability.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has shut all the international commercial flights for a 2 weeks earlier, amid reports of the appearance of a new mutated strain of coronavirus in a number of European countries

Expats who were coming from the countries where the new wave of mutated virus was observe will have to spend 4 days in quarantine after landing in Saudi Arabia and will have to under go several PCR tests and the others coming from countries where the mutated virus was not there will have to spend 7 days in after reaching the kingdom or after 3 days of negative PCR test.

International Flights & borders will be shut for One more week

Starting 20th of December 2020 International Flights, land borders and Sea borders were closed across Saudi Arabia to avoid the spread of new strain of Coronavirus and to ensure safety of residents & expatriates.

International Travel except for emergency cases after taking precautionary measures are allowed. GACA clarified that these instructions do not include the countries where the new mutated strain of coronavirus has appeared and that is in accordance with the decision of the competent health authorities.

International Flights from Saudi to Other countries are open and pats can leave Saudi Arabia to go to their Home country.

As per the Ministry of Health; Saudi Arabia will continue to assess the situation, ensuring safety of citizens and expatriates, with an emphasis on excluding the movement of goods, commodities and supply chains, as well as allowing the departure of non-Saudis through flights, according to the precautionary measures adopted.

GACA Allowing Flights for Non-Saudis to Leave Kingdom (KSA)

In a circular from GACA, they have specified the following instructions:

• All Airlines are permitted to carry non-Saudi or Expatriate passengers outside the Saudi Arabia (KSA), taking into account all precautionary measures and protocols to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

• All Foreign airlines are permitted to operate flights for this purpose and must not allow crew to leave the aircraft and not to physically contact the ground/operation staff of the arrival airport, taking into account precautionary measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

• The instructions do not include the countries where the new strain of COVID-19 has appeared, according to what is decided by the competent health authority and airlines must coordinate with Air Transport Department before applying for flights.

International Flights partially resumed in Saudi Arabia

GACA (General Authority of Civil Aviation) has said that all the international airports in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are geared up to operate international flights during this phase in coordination with the Ministry of Health and other government agencies.

GACA has also announced to all the passengers who are coming to the kingdom to be in self-quarantine for 3 days and these passengers must go through another PCR test after 48 hrs of entering Saudi Arabia.

All these checks are placed to make sure that all International passengers are not infected by the pandemic Coronavirus.

GACA informed that the airlines are permitted to transport GCC citizens as well as non-Saudi passengers holding a valid visa, including exit and reentry, residency permit (iqama), and visit visas to and from the Kingdom.

The GACA has also warned about the penalties which will be imposed in accordance with Article 163 of the Civil Aviation Law against those who fail to comply with the regulations.

Total lifting of the travel suspension for international flights will be announced 30 days before Jan 1, 2021