Mongolia has arranged its first charter flight to the Australian city of Sydney, with the support of the Oyu Tolgoi mining company and the necessary departments and agencies. The MIAT Mongolian Airlines flight, departed from Ulaanbaatar on the night of Saturday 6 June, carrying foreign workers from Oyu Tolgoi; the aircraft returned today (8 June) with over 270 Mongolian from Australia. On the way back, the plane stopped over for refueling in the Philippines where it picked up 34 Mongolians who had been stranded in Manila and other places in the island nation. The plane landed in Ulaanbaatar this evening at 8.00 p.m.

The State Emergency Commission (SEC) last week reported that eight more charter flights are being planned for June; these will be to  Kazakhstan, Japan, India, South Korea, and Germany – these will bring home some 2000 Mongolians stranded in these countries. The destinations of two flights still have to be finalised.

As of today, there are 11,600 Mongolians stuck in 45 countries due to COVID-19 border restrictions who have requested to return to Mongolia, including over 2,600 people in the North America, 5,500 people in Asian countries and 2,600 people in Europe and more than 1,200 Mongolians from Australia. The SEC highlighted that the number is anticipated to rise, therefore, only those with reasonable excuses to return home, such as health concerns, will be given seats on the charter planes.

In compliance with safety and prevention measures, all returnees will be immediately placed under 21-day isolation and further 14-day home isolation upon their arrival in Mongolia.

As we recently reported, Mongolia has come just behind Germany in global per capita repatriation of its nationals.