RAWALPINDI: Two more international airlines one from the United Arab Emirates and the other from Qatar on Thursday suspended their flight operations from Pakistan, a day after several passengers who had travelled to Hong Kong by another airliner tested positive for Covid-19.

Etihad Airways is the third airline of the UAE after Fly Dubai and Emirates to have temporarily suspended its flight operation for outbound passengers, while Q atar Airways has suspended its passenger services to and from Pakistan.

An official of Etihad Airways , who didn`t give his name, told Dawn that the outbound flights of Etihad Airways had been suspended till July 1. He didn`t give any reason for the suspension of flight operations from Pakistan, but hinted that the suspension of outboundflightsmightbeextended.However,headded,inbound flights would continue to operate for Pakistan.

Etihad Airways resumed its two weekly flights from Karachi and Lahore on June 13 after a gap of 55 days and was planning to operate flights from Islamabad. The airlineearlier suspended flights to Pakistan on March 21 to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Also, Qatar Airways suspended its passenger services for Pakistan on Thursday. All incoming and outgoing flights of Qatar Airways were cancelled, apparently due to the spread of coronavirus, according to sources.

They said certain passengers who travelled by Qatar Airways reportedly tested positive for Covid-19 due to which the flights operation for Pakistan was temporarily suspended.

According to airport authorities, the last flight of Qatar Airways was operated from Islamabad on Thursday. When contacted, the airline staf f in Islamabad didn`t respond.

Earlier, Fly Dubai had suspended its flight operations for Pakistan till August 1 due to the spread of coronavirus. A senior of ficial of Fly Dubai said special flights to repatriate UAE nationals were still operating from Pakistan.

Just a day ago, Emirates, which had been operating flights from Pakistan to Dubai, had temporarily suspended passenger service from the country until next week. However, Emirates will continue to operate repatriation flights into Pakistan as per announced schedule and continue to operate cargo services. A spokesman for the airline said: `Following the announcement of positive Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong relating to certain passengers who travelled on out flights, Emirates has taken the decision to temporarily suspend passenger services from Pakistan.