Emirates confirmed that flights from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will remain suspended at least until 07 August 2021.
Passengers who have had connected through India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka in the last 14 days will not be accepted to travel from any other point to the UAE as well.
Exceptions include UAE nationals, holders of UAE Golden Visas and members of diplomatic missions who comply with updated COVID-19 protocols.
Etihad Airways has confirmed the news on Twitter when users asked about the flight dates from India and Pakistan to UAE.
Hi Sohail, as of now our flights from Pakistan to the UAE and Etihad's network have been suspended until further notice, and we will resume our flights as per the local government's further directives. Please the latest update on our website https://t.co/hWA7ZGfiaF. Thanks. *Zoe
— Etihad Help (@EtihadHelp) July 29, 2021
In the tweets, no specific date has been announced and it is just mentioned that the flights have been suspended until further notice.
On the official website of Etihad Airways, it is mentioned that Flights from Pakistan to the UAE have been suspended until 2 August by the UAE authorities.
Additionally, strict travel SOP’s with regards to Covid-19 are to be followed. Last month, the UAE had extended a ban on inbound flights from 14 countries including Pakistan till July 21.
Read more: Tourists throng Kaghan, Swat valley despite surge in COVID-19 cases
However, cargo flights, as well as business and charter flights, were exempted from the suspension.
In other news
On Tuesday 27th July, Saudi government had announced that it will impose a three-year travel ban on citizens travelling to countries on the kingdom’s ‘red list’ under efforts to curb the spread of coronavirus and its new variants.
The countries included in the red list are Afghanistan, Argentina, Brazil, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Lebanon, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Ministry of Interior stresses that citizens are still banned from travelling directly or via another country to these states or any other that has yet to control the pandemic or where the new strains have spread,” an unnamed interior ministry official said.
Read more: Pakistani cinemas set to reopen as Covid restrictions ease
On the other hand, US State Department has eased Covid-19 travel advisory for Pakistan, India. The Covid-19 advisories were previously the highest Level 4, “Do not travel.” Now they have been lowered a level to “Level 3 – Reconsider Travel”.
Similar travel restrictions are in place for South Africa, China, Iran, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ireland and 26 countries in Europe that allow travel across open borders.
Exemptions include Permanent US residents and family members and some other non-US citizens, such as students.
“Any decisions about reopening travel will be guided by our public health and medical experts. We take this incredibly seriously,” White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said on Monday.
Pakistan has also banned unvaccinated people from traveling domestically as an official announcement was made on July 25th where the National Command and Operation Centre (NCOC) had decided that unvaccinated people, over the age of 18, will not be allowed to undertake domestic air travel from August 1.
Read more: Canada extends India and Pakistan flight ban
“Restriction is for domestic air travel and people travelling from Pakistan to abroad or from abroad to Pakistan are exempted from restriction. It is also not applicable on link flights if these are within 72 hours of arrival or departure,” the document stated.