Saudi Arabia suspends travel to UAE

Flights to and from Ethiopia and Vietnam have also been suspended

Officials in Saudi Arabia have announced that from 11pm today, Sunday 4 July, travel between Saudi Arabia and the UAE will be suspended in order to curb the spread of mutated strains of Covid-19. A new travel suspension will also apply to Ethiopia and Vietnam.

Saudi nationals are barred from travelling, directly or indirectly, to all three countries, unless they obtain special permission to do so. KSA citizens and residents arriving in the country after the travel ban takes effect will be subject to institutional quarantine. Non-Saudi nationals from the UAE, Ethiopia and Vietnam can only enter the kingdom if they haven’t entered a country on Saudi’s red list within the past 14 days. 

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Dubai-based carrier Emirates announced that flights to and from the kingdom would be suspended from 4 July 2021 at 11pm, until further notice. The airline added that customers with Saudi Arabia as their final destination, arriving on or after 5 July 2021, will not be accepted for travel at their point of origin.

The UAE’s national carrier, Etihad Airways stated that it would work closely with impacted guests to notify them of the changes to their itineraries.

The latest travel suspension comes after KSA had permitted travel from the UAE. On 30 May Saudi Arabia opened to inbound travellers from 11 countries including the UAE, the US, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, the UK, Sweden, Switzerland, France and Japan.