Kuwait to resume return flights to Egypt after four-month hiatus

Kuwait will resume flights to Egypt after a nearly four-month hiatus, Kuwaiti Civil Aviation Spokesman Saad Al-Otaibi told Reuters on Saturday.

Al-Otaibi said his country had informed state-run EgyptAir that Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways would resume flights to Egypt.

The move aims to facilitate the travel of Egyptians wishing to leave Kuwait to their homeland Egypt, the Kuwaiti official added.

In August, Kuwait halted commercial flights to 31 countries, including Egypt, as it claimed that these countries deemed high risk due to the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

Besides Egypt, the list includes Pakistan, the Philippines, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka, all of which have a large number of expats residing in Kuwait.

Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Anba also quoted on Saturday Kuwaiti official sources as saying that they expect coordination between the Kuwaiti and Egyptian sides to set the date for resuming flights “in the coming days.”

The number of Egyptians in Kuwait have reached around 445,000 as of August 2018, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Manpower.

“The Kuwaiti General Administration of Civil Aviation has sent a letter to EgyptAir stating that Kuwait has no objection on operating return flights to Egypt directly,” the Kuwaiti newspaper reported.

This, the sources added, is a first and important step to start operating flights in two directions soon after preparing the health requirements and procedures for examinations and institutional quarantine to curb the spread of the coronavirus.