Contract worth KD25 mln signed with airlines to evacuate Kuwaitis

Repatriation of expats continues

KUWAIT CITY, May 7: The cost of direct contracting with airlines for the evacuation of Kuwaitis from abroad and repatriation of expatriates who violated the Residency Law during the coronavirus crisis totaled KD25 million, reports Al-Anba daily quoting an official source.

The source disclosed the direct contracts were signed with Kuwait Airways Corporation, Jazeera Airways, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways; noting that the cost of the evacuation of Kuwaitis reached KD20 million and KD5 million for repatriation of expatriates who violated the Residency Law.

The source said the evacuation flights for Kuwaitis started on April 19 and ended on May 7; indicating around 31,000 Kuwaitis returned from various countries. Kuwait Airways carried out a bulk of the evacuation process in its capacity as the national carrier, in cooperation with Jazeera Airways, the source explained.

The fourth and final stage of the evacuation plan for citizens included 6,885 citizens on 25 flights. The evacuation plan consisted of several destinations like Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Washington, Montreal, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth over a period of five days. The number of returnees reached 31,000 on 184 flights from 53 destinations the source narrated.

At the same time, the repatriation of expatriates continued with the opening of an air bridge between Egypt and Kuwait with three flights bound for Cairo – two Kuwait Airways flights and one Jazeera Airways flight, the source said.

In addition, the third Lebanese plane (Middle East Airlines) left for Beirut, while one Jazeera Airways flight reached Isfahan, one Turkish Airlines flight to Turkey, one Saudi Arabia Airlines flight to Dammam and one Qatar Airways flight to Doha, the source concluded.