Saudia to start UK repatriation flights

Saudi Arabian Airlines said it would operate special flights to the UK amid the pandemic. (File/AFP)
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Updated 28 March 2020
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Saudia to start UK repatriation flights

  • The airline will operate flights in the week starting March 29 from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to London’s Heathrow Airport

DUBAI: Saudi Arabian Airlines, or Saudia, has agreed to operate exceptional commercial flights to allow British nationals and their families to return to the United Kingdom, according to the British embassy.

The airline will operate flights in the week starting March 29 from Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam to London’s Heathrow Airport and additional flights if required, it said.

Neil Crompton, the British Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, said in a statement they were expecting high demand for these special flights, and that they were working to add more flights in the coming days.

Saudi Arabia has earlier halted international travel to and from the Kingdom to curb the spread of COVID-19.

(With Reuters)


Saudi Foreign Ministry: Israel's decision on the West Bank undermines efforts to achieve peace and stability

Updated 4 min 51 sec ago
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Saudi Foreign Ministry: Israel's decision on the West Bank undermines efforts to achieve peace and stability

Saudi Arabia condemned Israel's decision to take control of parts of the West Bank, warning the move would undermine efforts to achieve peace and stability, in a statement by the Foreign Ministry on X. 

"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s condemnation of the Israeli occupation authorities’ decision to rename the West Bank as “State Lands,” affiliated with the occupation authorities, as part of plans aimed at imposing a new legal and administrative reality in the occupied West Bank, and undermining the ongoing efforts to achieve peace and stability in the region," the Foreign Ministry said on Monday. 

The Ministry said Israel had no right over Palestinian territories and was undermining the two state solution, reafirming the kingdoms support for a independent Palestinain State. 

Israel’s cabinet on Sunday approved ‌further measures to tighten Israel’s control over the occupied West Bank and make it easier for settlers to buy land, in a move Palestinians called “a ​de-facto annexation.” The move has been widely crticised by Arab countries including Qatar, Egypt and Jordan.