Kuwait suspends flights to 31 countries; caps daily number of incoming passengers

Kuwait has resumed international commercial passenger flight operations from August 1, nearly five months after officials closed the international airport on March 13 earlier this year to stem the spread of the global pandemic within the country.

However, Kuwait’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation said on Saturday that flights to 31 countries will remain suspended as part of its ongoing precautionary measure amid the Covid-19 crisis.

Kuwait suspends flights from 31 countrieshttps://t.co/gvyHOrWKRW#KUNA #KUWAIT

— Kuwait News Agency – English Feed (@kuna_en) August 1, 2020

The 31 countries from which flights to Kuwait will be banned include:

– India
– Philippines
– China
– Iran
– Iraq
– Lebanon
– Pakistan
– Egypt
– Bangladesh
– Nepal
– Brazil
– Colombia
– Armenia
– Syria
– Spain
– Singapore
– Bosnia and Herzegovina
– Sri Lanka
– Mexico
– Indonesia
– Chile
– Hong Kong
– Italy
– North Macedonia
– Moldova
– Panama
– Peru
– Serbia
– Montenegro
– Dominican Republic
– Kosovo

The list of countries from which flights will remain suspended has significantly expanded from a previous list declared on June 30 by officials in Kuwait which included only seven countries.

Read: Kuwait to resume flights from Aug 1, bans residents from seven nations including India, Philippines

Last week, the cabinet agreed to resume flights from Kuwait International Airport in three phases.

The first phase began on August 1 and will last for six months.

During this phase, flights bound for Kuwait can operate at a maximum capacity of 30 per cent.

Also, no more than 10,000 travellers can arrive in Kuwait each day, while the number of flights are capped at a maximum of 100 each day.

Read more: Kuwait to restart commercial international passenger flights from August 1

The second phase starting on February 1, 2021, will permit flights bound for Kuwait to operate at a maximum capacity of 60 per cent.

Also, the number of passengers allowed to arrive in the country will be doubled to 20,000, while the number of flights will also be doubled to 200 per day.

The third and final phase will commence on August 1, 2021, where incoming flights will be allowed to operate at 100 per cent capacity. The number of passengers allowed to enter the country daily on these flights will also be increased to 30,000 and the total number of flights permitted daily will be raised to 300.

Kuwait’s DGCA director-general, Yousef Al-Fawzan added that all incoming passengers to the country will need to undergo a mandatory 14-day home quarantine.

On August 2, Kuwait reported 478 new Covid-19 cases in the country, raising the overall number of infections up to 67,911.