PIA's regular flights to UAE being restored today.

Byline: Mohammad Asghar and Iftikhar A. Khan

RAWALPINDI/ISLAMABAD -- The Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) will resume regular flight operations to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Thursday (today) but the passengers are required to get their Covid-19 tests carried out 48 hours prior to the travel date.

In a related development, Pakistan held bilateral consultations with Spain as part of its efforts to get PIA's flights to Europe restored.

PIA spokesman Abdullah Hafeez said in a press release on Wednesday that PIA would resume its regular flight operations to the UAE from Thursday and tickets are already up for grabs.

He said now PIA passengers would be able to travel to Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Al Ain from Pakistan through the airline's regular flights.

He added that previously PIA was operating one-way relief flights to the UAE to repatriate Pakistanis stranded in the country, but now after obtaining permissions the PIA would operate regular flights for the convenience of passengers.

Consultations with Spain held to regain access to European airports

The PIA said the passengers could book and purchase their tickets through PIA offices, corporate website and its travel agents. However, the passengers would be required to get their Covid-19 tests done within 48 hours prior to fight departure and a negative test report would have to be presented at the time of check-in.

In addition to submitting their Covid-19 test results, the passengers would be required to fill health declaration form available online.

However, the PIA has not authorised any health centre for Covid-19 tests for passengers.

Earlier, the UAE-based airline Emirates resumed passenger services to Pakistan's four main cities - Karachi, Lahore, Sialkot and Islamabad - after a temporary suspension, but with a condition that passengers would be required to carry with them a fresh negative Covid-19 report from a specified laboratory.

'The health and safety of our crew, customers and communities remain our top priority. Emirates has put in place a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the customer journey on the ground and in the air, to minimise the risk of infection spread,' the airline said.

The Emirates spokesperson said passengers travelling from Pakistan to Dubai and beyond must present a negative Covid-19 PCR test result certificate at the time of check-in.

The PCR test must be taken up to four days prior to the travel date (96 hrs maximum) and must be...