The kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced that it will lift its travel ban on those travelling overseas beginning 1:00 am on May 17.
Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority also said in a circular that they may continue suspending travel to specific countries where the coronavirus pandemic situation remains unchanged.
Saudi’s Travel Ban on Citizens Traveling Overseas to be Lifted Starting May 17
In line with this, the Authority confirmed the date in a statement it sent out to local airports that all international flights and airports will resume regular operations in May instead of March 31, as earlier announced in January, the Arab News reported.
In the meantime, Saudi domestic airports are seeing a quicker recovery in routes within the Kingdom than larger regional rivals relying on pandemic-paralyzed long-haul travel.
The Middle East has suffered particularly because of the global aviation slowdown due to its comparatively under-developed domestic market.
“The domestic recovery in Saudi Arabia is already showing positive signs, in frequency terms at least,” CAPA analyst Richard Maslen revealed.
Weekly domestic flights in the Kingdom have grown to about 3,000, according to data from CAPA.
This represents just a 23 per cent decline over the first two months of the year compared with the same period a year ago before COVID-19 restrictions hit.
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