The UAE News web report: Saudi Arabia once again announced that the suspension of international flights will continue for another week by the Kingdom.

Last Sunday, Saudi Arabia had shut all its land, air and seaports for one week amid reports of the appearance of a new mutated strain of Covid-19 in a number of European countries.

However, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA), has directed airlines operating in the airports of the Kingdom to transport non-Saudi passengers outside Saudi, in total compliance with the precautionary measures to stem the spread of coronavirus.

The GACA has given permission to foreign airlines to operate chartered flights for this purpose on the condition that the crew of a landing plane at the airports do not leave their plane, and that they do not physically have contact with the ground/operation staff of the airport.

The authority clarified that these instructions do not include the countries where the new mutated strain of coronavirus has appeared and that is in accordance with the decision of the competent health authorities. The GACA also instructed that the airlines must coordinate with the Air Transport Department about this before applying for flights.