Saudi Arabia is set to resume scheduled domestic passenger flights from Sunday, May 31, onwards following a 71-day moratorium on commercial traffic.

The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said in a statement that the decision had been taken in concert with the kingdom's health authorities and that all necessary health precautions will be followed. i.e. middle seats will be left vacant.

To that end, in the interests of safety, the resumption will take a phased approach. In the first phase, 13 airports throughout the country will reopen to scheduled commercial traffic namely:

Local carriers including flynas, flyadeal, Saudia, Nesma Airlines (Saudi Arabia), and SaudiGulf Airlines have all signalled their respective plans to resume flight operations.

Saudia said in a statement it will operate 60 domestic flights as part of its first phase. flynas said it will also resume flights from May 31 serving Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Abha, Gassim, Najran, Jazan, Hail, Tabuk, and Madinah.

The GACA said international repatriation flights will continue but gave no inkling as to when scheduled international passenger flights would resume.