Emirates stretches ban on Pakistani flights till July 15

A statement issued by the airline stated, passengers who have connected through Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE.

A notice issued by UAE’s civil aviation authority stated that cargo flights, as well as business and charter flights, will be exempted from the restrictions.

While, UAE Nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with updated COVID‑19 protocols are exempt and may be accepted for travel in-bound.

Flights from the United Arab Emirates to 13 countries, including India, Zambia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Nigeria, and South Africa, have been suspended too.

Pakistan Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan shared on Sunday that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) had decided to operate 18 flights to Gulf countries, including the UAE, Qatar and Bahrain to repatriate stuck Pakistani citizens.

For the UAE, 10 flights will operate between July 5 and 10 to bring back 3,394 Pakistanis from Dubai and Sharjah.

Six flights will operate between July 6 and 18 to bring back 2,016 people from Doha and two flights will operate between July 9 and 11 to bring back 772 Pakistanis from Bahrain, the minister told.

"Besides this, we have allocated 2,000 special seats for stranded Pakistanis in UAE and those will be brought back to the country before Eid," he added.

 “All the stranded Pakistanis in different Gulf states will be brought back safely in an honourable manner” for which the minister said that booking has been started and God willing, flight operation to start tomorrow (July, 5).