Air Arabia has begun its repatriation flights to a number of select destinations, bringing home Emiratis stranded abroad free of charge.

The low-cost airline recently announced it would join Emirates, Etihad and FlyDubai airlines in launching outboun[d passenger services, from its base in Sharjah.

The first repatriation flights operated to Kabul in Afghanistan, and to Lar and Shiraz in Iran.

On Friday, the airline operated a new repatriation flight from Nepal to Sharjah, in which it carried UAE nationals home free of charge.

The special flight took off from Kathmandu on Friday, carrying Emiratis and belly-hold cargo, and landed at Sharjah International Airport at night.

Air Arabia had earlier announced a longer list of destinations for a mix of cargo and passenger flights to operate throughout April. They are Afghanistan, Iran, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Sudan, Egypt, India and Nepal.

Flights to these destinations are government-approved services intended to take people back to their home countries from the UAE.

The majority of these flights will only accept passengers who are permanent residents or citizens of the destination, while some may take travellers who are from neighbouring countries so they can then make their way home. Travellers cannot currently book flights to enter the UAE.