Saudi Airlines to Resume Flights to Qatar on Monday

Saudi Airlines announced today, Saturday, that it will resume flights to Qatar next Monday, January 11th.

The company affirmed, in a statement published on "Twitter", that it will operate flights to Doha, the capital city of Qatar, from Riyadh and Jeddah, a coastal city on the eastern coast of the Red Sea, as of January 11.

This development comes after more than 3 years of complicated tension that has continued in the Gulf region, since July 5, 2017, against the backdrop of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab  Emirates(UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt severing their relations with Qatar, and stopping the maritime, land and air traffic with Qatar.

The four countries accused Doha of "supporting terrorism."

The shift away from the Arab region towards Iran, which led to the outbreak of a political crisis between the aforementioned countries in addition to a wide media war.

In a major breakthrough to settle this crisis, the Gulf Cooperation Council states (GCC)  and Egypt adopted at the summit hosted by the Saudi city of Al-Ula, a statement affirming the "unity of the Gulf countries" and laying down basic principles for resolving tension.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and Qatar have reached an agreement to resume direct flights and reopen the sea and land borders.

On Saturday morning, work began fully and receiving travelers at the Salwa border crossing point that links  Saudi Arabia and Qatar, after the completion of the preparations for operating the port and receiving travelers.

According to the "Al-Ikhbariya"  a Saudi space channel, the Salwa border crossing was fully operational.

With regard to health detection procedures and to ensure that those coming to the Kingdom are free of the new Coronavirus, the sources confirmed that the precautionary measures begin with the existence of a laboratory examination certificate (PCR).

The Saudi channel confirmed that those coming to the Kingdom are free of infection with the virus.

Upon the arrival of the first Qatari arrivals at the port, the Saudi Passports and Customs personnel began to verify and authenticate the identification documents of the vehicle and its driver.