The ongoing saga on allowing direct entry to Kuwait for passengers from Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, continues unabated. The Council of Ministers had on 18 August given permission to the Directorate-General of the Civil Aviation (DGCA) to resume direct flights with these six nations.
Accordingly, many passengers from these countries were said to have booked tickets and arranged for completing all the health requirements mandated for entry into Kuwait. There were even reports that the first flight from Egypt would land on the morning of Thursday 26 August, followed by flights from India and elsewhere.
However, on Tuesday, a press statement from the Director of the DGCA’s Air Transport Department, Abdullah Al-Rajhi, denied that any date had as yet been fixed for resumption of flights with the six countries. He added that the DGCA was still preparing flight operation plans, and that permissions for airlines to operate direct flights from the six countries would be given only once the operation plans were completed.
He noted that flight operations were being delayed because of the current daily limit on the number of incoming passengers through Kuwait International Airport. Al-Rajhi pointed out that the DGCA had requested the Cabinet to increase the current daily limit of 7,500 travelers, in order to facilitate the entry of additional passengers from the six countries.
While granting the green signal to the DGCA, the Cabinet had also set conditions on the entry of passengers from the six countries, including that incoming passengers should adhere and conform to all health and security guidelines mandated by the ministerial Higher Committee for Coronavirus Emergency.