Saudi Arabia indefinitely suspends travel to UAE, Vietnam and Ethiopia

Officials in Saudi Arabia said starting 11pm on Sunday July 4, travel between the kingdom and the UAE, as well as Ethiopia, and Vietnam, would be suspended as a result of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

According to state-run Saudi Press Agency, an official source in Saudi’s Ministry of Interior said that the decision was taken as a result of the spread of new mutated strains of the virus.

Accordingly, Saudi nationals are barred from travelling, directly or indirectly to these countries, unless they obtain special permission to do so. Its citizens who are currently in those countries will not be subjected to institutional quarantine should they return to Saudi before the suspension takes effect.

GACA issues instructions to air carriers regarding the prevention of direct, or indirect travel of citizens to a number of countries and the suspension of entry from them. pic.twitter.com/gLDwxBAQZj

— هيئة الطيران المدني (@ksagaca) July 3, 2021

However, any citizen or non-citizen arriving after the travel ban takes effect, will be subject to institutional quarantine.

Once the travel ban takes effect, non-Saudi nationals from Ethiopia, the UAE, Vietnam and Afghanistan can only enter the kingdom if they have stayed 14 days outside these four countries as well as all the previously announced ones. As a result of the latest directive, flights between the kingdom and these four countries would be also be suspended.

Dubai-based carrier Emirates said that effective July 4, 2021, 11pm Saudi local time, flights to and from the kingdom would be suspended until further notice as instructed by the GACA of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It added that customers with Saudi as their final destination, arriving on/after July 5, 2021, will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin.

Emirates’ last flights to/from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on July 4 2021 would be as follows:
Dubai – Jeddah – Dubai – EK2805 / EK2806
Dubai – Riyadh – Dubai – EK2817/ EK 2818
Dubai – Dammam – Dubai – EK2821/ EK2822

Abu Dhabi carrier Etihad Airways, too said that in line with the latest directive, it was working closely with impacted guests to notify them of the changes to their itineraries.

The latest travel suspension comes weeks after the kingdom permitted travel from the UAE. As of 1am on Sunday, May 30, it had begun to permit inbound travellers from 11 countries countries including UAE, US, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, France and Japan.