SEPANG: A Saudi Airlines plane from Jeddah is the first international flight to land at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) following the reopening of the country’s borders on Friday (April 1).

       Its passengers included Malaysians returning from their umrah.

       The flight touched down at around 1am.

       It was followed by a chartered flight carrying 21 passengers from Yangon, Myanmar which landed at 3.15am.

       A passenger on the flight from Yangon, Mohd Akram Amri, 35, said it was smooth sailing at KLIA as it took him only about 10 minutes to clear airport procedures compared to more than two hours previously.

       "Before the borders were opened, it was strict, with the RT-PCR Covid-19 test and a 14-day quarantine. But the process is much easier now that the borders are open,” said the father of four who had been working overseas for three months.

       According to the KLIA flight schedule board, at least 17 international flights were scheduled to land up to 9.30am Friday from, among others, Kathmandu, Nepal; Dhaka, Bangladesh; Melbourne, Australia; Chennai and Hyderabad, India; London's Heathrow airport; Jakarta; Muscat, Oman; Singapore; and Doha, Qatar.

       On March 8, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that the country’s borders would be opened on April 1, as the country begins its transition to the endemic phase of Covid-19. – Bernama