Search alerts

The Dubai-based airline have announced that they will shortly resume flights to a further six cities: Geneva, Los Angeles, Dar es Salaam, Prague, Sao Paulo and Boston. This will take the airline’s network to 58 cities by mid-August, including 20 destinations in Europe and 24 destinations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet is currently operating 25 flights under India's national repatriation drive, known as the Vande Bharat Mission (VBM). The airline will help bring back close to 4500 Indians stranded in the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Oman under the initiative. SpiceJet has so far operated six of the scheduled special flights, bringing back over a thousand Indian nationals; it will operate another 19 flights this month from Ras Al-Khaimah, Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh and Muscat.

Dubai-based airline Emirates has now resumed passenger flights to and from Pakistan, after a temporary suspension of eight days finishing on 1 July; all passengers arriving in Dubai from Pakistan must, though, carry a negative COVID-19 test result from a branch of Chunghtai Labs, an approved laboratory which will share the results directly with the airline. Branches of the laboratory can be found within all big cities in Pakistan, and passengers must take along their passport and confirmed booking within 96 hours of their departing flight.

Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad has published details surrounding the collection of COVID-19 PCR test charges for all passengers travelling from the UAE to Beirut, Lebanon; since 1 July, negative PCR test results have been required by Lebanon either before and/or after departure depending on whether testing facilities are available in the passengers' country of origin. Etihad will bear part of the costs payable for arriving testing, but will also add an additional US$50 fee as a tax charge to new and existing tickets.

Following the re-opening of Beirut’s Rafic Hariri International Airport on 1 July, passengers arriving in the airport are required to comply with testing and self-isolation measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Depending on the availability of PCR testing in the passengers' country of origin, they will be required to either present a negative result prior to travel and/or complete a testing procedure on arrival in Lebanon; all testing undergone on arrival will be chargeable, but in some cases the fees will be covered by airlines at their discretion.

Passengers flying with Qatar Airways are now required to wear a face shield throughout their flight, in addition to a face mask or covering. Face shields will be available at check-in at Doha's Hamad International Airport, where the airline is based. If passengers are travelling on Qatar Airways flights from other destinations, face shields will be distributed at the boarding gate.

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, a joint venture between Etihad and Air Arabia, is Abu Dhabi's first low-cost airline and will take to the skies from 14 July. It will begin operations with direct flights connecting Abu Dhabi with Alexandria and Sohag in Egypt. The inaugural flight will take off from Abu Dhabi to Alexandria on 14 July followed by flights to Sohag the next day.

Qatar's government have confirmed that they aim to further ease COVID-19 curbs from 1 July, allowing the limited reopening of restaurants, beaches and parks, as infections have passed their peak and the rate is reportedly subsiding. Public and private gatherings of a maximum of five people will be allowed, while employees in the public and private sector can work from their office at 50% capacity.

As communicated by CVS, effective from 7 July 2020, passengers traveling as tourists arriving at Dubai (DXB) must have mandatory documents in their possession. These include: Health declaration form, Quarantine undertaking form, Copy of PCR test issued 96 HRS before date of departure & Health insurance valid for the duration of the visa validity.

Abu Dhabi’s local government media office announced yesterday that the emirate will now allow people to enter if they have tested negative for COVID-19 in the previous 48 hours. The largest and wealthiest member of the United Arab Emirates federation, Abu Dhabi has had a ban on passengers entering since 2 June.

The Dubai-based airline has said that it will now resume passenger flights to over 50 cities in July, after announced the re-starting of additional services; flights will resume to Cairo, Egypt (from 1 July), Tunis, Tunisia (from 1 July), Glasgow, United Kingdom (from 15 July) and Malé, Maldives (from 16 July).

In an update to previous announcements about the resumption of flight routes via a special Abu Dhabi transit service, Etihad has confirmed that they will connect passengers to a total of 13 European destinations from early July. Destination cities include Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Brussels, Dublin, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul, London, Madrid, Milan, Paris and Zurich. They hope to increase their network even further from 16 July and are working closely alongside the UAE authorities to do so.

The Dubai-based airline is set to resume flights to London Heathrow and Paris using their highly popular, flagship Airbus A380 from 15 July - hailed as the world's largest and most spacious passenger aircraft. The move will mark the first time that the airline has returned the aircraft to scheduled services since the pandemic forced the grounding of their passenger fleet in March.

The Dubai-based airline will continue to operate a number of repatriation flights scheduled from 24-30 June, which are set to continue assisting Pakistani nationals to return home from the UAE. This is despite the announcement last night that regular passenger services from Pakistan's Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore airports have been temporarily suspended, following the news that a number of passengers on a previous flight tested positive for COVID-19.

From today, 24 June, further commercial passenger flights are resuming from Afghanistan. Turkish Airlines will now operate two flights per week from Kabul until 1 July, from which time there will be four per week. Dubai-based Emirates will resume flights from Kabul from tomorrow, 25 June, and operate three times per week initially.

The airline published an updated press release yesterday detailing both the resumption of flight routes and an increase in frequency on existing routes over the past week; it has now increased to more than 270 weekly flights to 45 destinations, most recently resuming services to Budapest, Dar es Salaam, Dhaka, Istanbul and New York.

SkyTeam, an international alliance of member airlines, has launched a pledge to enhance safety measures across all of its member airlines at every step of the customer journey. Named ‘SkyCare&Protect’, the pledge will allow passengers to make educated decisions about their travel plans.

The country's government has banned international visitors from making the Islamic pilgrimage, or Hajj, this year due to restrictions related to COVID-19. Otherwise, up to two million people would have otherwise visited Mecca. Meanwhile, domestically a nationwide curfew has been lifted and all economic and social activities have been allowed to resume from 21 June.

The government of the UAE announced yesterday that airports in Dubai will welcome tourists from 7 July. Arrivals will be required to present a negative COVID-19 certificate or undergo testing at the airport. Meanwhile, citizens and residents of the UAE will also be permitted to travel overseas from tomorrow, 23 July.

Avani have published updated information on the measures they're taking to prepare for post-COVID-19 travel, as more of their hotels globally begin to re-open. Their protocols, introduced under the name 'AvaniSHIELD', include initiatives such as digital check-in/out, a digital concierge app and a trusted partner program for local transport.