RIYADH — Three Saudi Arabian Airlines flights dedicated for repatriating citizens to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia arrived on Thursday, Saudi Press Agency reported.

The flights, coming from Houston, Beirut and Nairobi, arrived at two airports King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.

The special flights are part of the repatriation operation which is being carried out in line with the implementation of the directives by King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman and their keenness to help Saudi citizens abroad in light of the outbreak of Coronavirus pandemic, while caring for their health and safety.

Upon Arrival at the two airports, the returnees were received by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Health and the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA).

Immediately after their arrival, all of the returnees were subjected to go through all health and preventive measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus.

The preventive measures include 12 stages through which all passengers have to go, beginning at the airport of the country of departure until their arrival and exit from the Kingdom's airports.

When the flight arrives at the Kingdom’s airports, GACA applies the procedures by which the passengers disembark from the plane in a standardized way to ensure that there is no congestion inside the terminals. This is in addition to providing a sterilization area at the gate.

The Ministry of Health has allocated a checkpoint through which all incoming passengers pass through the mandatory thermal camera devices to ensure the safety of all passengers.

When a positive test is suspected among the passengers, that particular passenger is then isolated from the rest of the crowd and a safe path is then used to transfer the case.

Furthermore, passengers are also required to sterilize their hands before the start of passport control and fingerprinting procedures. At the customs area a distance of at least 1.5 meters is maintained between the customs officers and passengers.

Passengers are then sorted in the last stage upon exit by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Tourism, each according to their destinations.

The passengers are then directed to buses allocated to them from the transport fleet of the Ministry of Education, which is provided with all services and safety measures.

Passengers are then transported to the guesthouses prepared by the Ministry of Tourism and supervised by the Ministry of Health for the quarantine period, according to the health measures adopted to combat the Coronavirus epidemic. — SPA