DGCA to continue repatriation of expatriates

No request received from Ministry of Foreign Affairs to operate flights to evacuate Indians: Al-Fudaghi

KUWAIT CITY, May 10: Director General of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation – State of Kuwait (DGCA) Eng. Yousef Al-Fouzan says DGCA, based on directives of the Cabinet and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will continue with the evacuation flights for some expatriate communities wishing to leave the country, reports Aljarida daily.

In a press release, Eng. Al-Fouzan explained that DGCA registered the departure of 13,250 expatriates from Kuwait as of the end of last week in coordination with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign embassies in Kuwait.

These number of departures is in accordance with the Cabinet’s decision issued on March 13, 2020 to suspend commercial flights to and from Kuwait International Airport, as part of the precautionary measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 and based on keenness for expatriates from all communities to leave safely and return to their families in safety.

In this regard, Deputy Director General for Airport Affairs Eng. Saleh Al-Fudaghi revealed that eight flights left Kuwait International Airport

last Thursday, thereby ending for the time being evacuation flights for expatriate communities wishing to leave the country in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In a press release, he said two flights to Egypt were allocated each day.

Al-Fudaghi affirmed that DGCA is fully prepared to adopt any requests from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to evacuate expatriate communities wishing to leave the country.

Regarding the accreditation of specific airlines for expatriate communities, he explained that DGCA deals with requests from any local or foreign airlines in accordance with prior coordination between Ministry of Foreign Affairs and foreign embassies of expatriate communities wishing to leave. There is no distinction in this regard between the national and foreign carriers.

Concerning the requests submitted by Embassy of India for evacuating Indian citizens by air, Al-Fudaghi said, “We have not yet received any such request from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to operate flights to evacuate the Indian community.”