Coronavirus: Repatriation flights from UAE to Pakistan set to begin on Saturday

More than 40,000 Pakistanis have requested to go home but flights will operate in limited capacity

A Pakistan International Airlines passenger jet. Larry MacDougal / AP Photo

Special flights to repatriate Pakistanis in the UAE back to their home country are set to begin on Saturday.

The country’s national carrier, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), will carry stranded citizens home.

Ahmed Amjad Ali, Pakistan’s consul-general in Dubai, said that the consulate had received more than 40,000 flight bookings from their citizens in the UAE.

“From April 18 onwards, PIA flights will be available. Please understand that there is limited capacity. Even when you reach Pakistan, there are limited tests and quarantine capacity,” he said in a video message posted on the consulate’s Twitter.

The flights will be carried out in phases, depending on Pakistan's ability to accommodate the large number of people in quarantine facilities.

“Everyone can’t go at once and everyone’s turn will come,” said Mr Ali.

Earlier this week, hundreds of Pakistanis gathered outside of the consulate for answers as to why repatriation flights had not begun yet.

The lack of quarantine facilities in the country’s hospitals and airports has been causing delays in bringing citizens back.

Pakistan’s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the government is gradually increasing the number of facilities.

While stranded Pakistanis await to return home, the consulate has been supplying them with food and hygiene products.

As part of the initiative, the consulate has delivered supplies to 8,500 needy Pakistanis across the UAE.

However, 11,000 people who requested for food rations are still waiting to receive them.

“There is a curfew and we are facing a little difficulty to deliver the rations, but we aim to reach everyone and we request you to be patient,” said Mr Ali.

Umeir Alam, an electrical engineer from Peshawar, is one among many who has asked for food rations from the consulate.

“I have a job but there is no salary,” said Mr Alam, who moved to Dubai in 2016 and wants to continue living here.

“My company are co-operative but if there are no projects then how they will manage? I’m still looking for a job, still looking for opportunity but it’s really hard because of the virus.”

A handyman in Dubai, who chose to remain unidentified, wants to return to Pakistan.

He arrived on a visit visa in 2019 and has been unable to find permanent employment.

“I do not have a job and I cannot afford my room rent and daily expenses,” he said.

“With the little money I have, I couldn't book a plane ticket because it costs Dh1,500. So, I requested help to go home."

He shares a room in Bur Dubai with nine others and pays Dh500 each month for a bed space.

“For the time being, I’m alone and there are many like me,” he said.