5 flights to bring back Egyptians stranded in Gulf countries Tuesday

CAIRO – 19 May 2020: The Civil Aviation Ministry operates on Tuesday five flights to bring home Egyptians stranded in Gulf countries.

Three flights are heading to Abu Dhabi while the destinations of the other two are Jeddah and Muscat. The latter flights will land in Marsa Alam where the passengers will be quarantined in hotels, while the other three flights will land in Cairo as passengers will be quarantined in university dorms.

The sixth exceptional flight bringing home Egyptians stuck in the United States arrived in Marsa Alam on Monday carrying 340 citizens who are being quarantined for 14 days after they were tested for COVID-19.

EgyptAir and Air Cairo will operate two flights each on Monday to bring back Egyptians stranded in KSA's Jeddah and Riyadh. Those will land in Cairo International Airport and be quarantined in university dorms free of charge.

Three exceptional flights operated by Jazeera Airways brought home 480 Egyptians stuck in Kuwait on Saturday evening. The passengers were tested for COVID-19 at Cairo International Airport and transported to university dorms where they are being quarantined for 14 days.

The second exceptional EgyptAir flight bringing home 157 stranded Egyptians from UAE's Abu Dhabi landed in Marsa Alam International Airport on Friday evening.

The passengers are being quarantined for 14 days in the resort town lying on the Red Sea coasts after their luggage is sterilized.

On the same day, 300 and 315 Egyptians stuck in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, respectively, arrived.
On April 21, the Ministry of Civil Aviation resumed exceptional flights to bring home stranded Egyptians starting with Lebanon.

On May 14, 226 and 140 Egyptians stranded in the United States and Sudan, respectively, were brought back. The flight from Washington is the fifth exceptional one operated to bring home Egyptians stuck in the United States.

On May 13, 311 Egyptians returned from Canada.

On May 10, an exceptional flight carrying 233 stranded Egyptians from UK's Heathrow Airport landed in Marsa Alam.

On May 5, the fourth exceptional flight operated from Washington since international aviation was suspended on March 19 arrived bringing home 327 citizens.

On May 8, 190 stranded Egyptians in Chad, Ghana, and South Africa were brought home while 166 others returned from Oman.

On May 1, 288 stranded citizens were brought home from Ethiopia, Oman, Kenya, and Maldives.
On April 28, 148 stranded Egyptians returned from Indonesia and Oman.

On April 27, 141 nationals stuck in Frankfurt were brought home.

On April 26, 234 Egyptians stuck in Thailand and Malaysia returned.

On April 24, a flight carrying 70 Egyptians from Serbia and Greece arrived.

On May 5, Egypt launched an air bridge to bring back 5,300 expats in Kuwait who have been staying there illegally after the expiry of their residence. Those are being quarantined in university dorms free of charge.

On May 6 and May 10, 450 and 490 returned, respectively. On each of those days, three flights were operated.

An exceptional flight operated by Kuwait Airways and carrying 195 Egyptians whose residency expired in the Gulf country landed in Cairo International Airport on May 12.

Aviation suspension in Egypt began on March 19, except for domestic and cargo flights. Also, tourists who had arrived before the date were allowed to complete their program, and leave on dates scheduled beforehand.

A number of tourists requested to remain in Egypt as COVID-19 outbreak took its toll on their countries. Hence, Egyptian authorities approved as long as they go through coronavirus tests instructing the travel agencies to ensure the visitors' visas duration is extended by the Ministry of Interior, and informing their respective countries of their desire.