Search alerts

The Dubai-based airline re-launched its 'Dubai Connect' offer, which gives passengers transiting through its hub a complimentary hotel stay in Dubai. The offer is available to customers booked in all classes with a best connection time that exceeds 10 hours; passengers will receive a complimentary night’s stay in a 4 or 5-star hotel, ground transfers to and from the airport, meals at the hotel as well as a UAE visa on arrival where required.

Travellers departing from South Africa's O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg can get COVID-19 PCR-tested and collect their certificate at the airport prior to departure; National Health Laboratory Service is to operate three mobile test units in clearly identifiable vans located opposite the InterContinental Hotel, in front of the Police Station and on the lower level of the airport complex. The service is available 24/7 at a cost of R600 and results are available in four to six hours, with a prompt for certificate collection delivered by SMS.

South African regional carrier Mango Airlines has said in a statement published on their website that domestic port health screening across the national will be stopped from 00.01 (local time) on 25 November; under this same amendment, health questionnaires will no longer be required from domestic travellers from 25 November onwards.

The Dubai-based airline has today, 23 November, announced that it is extending its current COVID-19 cover with an expanded, multi-risk policy provided by AIG Travel; the cover will apply to all Emirates tickets from 1 December, including many codeshares services operated by other airline partners.

Following the UK government announcing granting a travel corridor to arriving or returning passengers from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Dubai-based airline Emirates has announced plans to increase its UK flight connections. Among them, it operate its A380 aircraft four times a day to London Heathrow from 27 November and six times a week to Manchester from 2 December. Flights to Birmingham and Glasgow will also be increased from the current four-a-week to daily services at both cities, from 27 November and 1 December respectively.

The airline has announced that it will extend its elimination of change fees to a long-term basis for all international flights, with the exception of seats booked in basic economy; it’s the first global U.S. carrier to do so. The move follows the August decision by American, along with United, Delta and Alaska, to eliminate change fees long-term on domestic tickets except for basic economy fares.

The middle-eastern airline has announced a finalised 'codeshare' agreement with Air Canada, for travel between Qatar's capital of Doha and the Canadian city of Toronto. The first flight will operate on 15 December and seats are now available for sale, offering a more seamless, one-stop connection between the two hubs.

New South African budget airline Lift, co-founded by created of low-cost airline Kulula, will take to the skies in the country from 10 December with its fleet of three Airbus A320 aircraft. A first for low-cost airlines, Lift will allow greater ticket flexibility than other budget carriers; passengers will be able to change or cancel flights without penalty.

The airline is set to launch voluntary COVID-19 testing for passengers travelling to the UK from three US airports. The trial begins on 25 November and will be free to eligible customers on three flights: an American Airlines flight from Dallas Fort Worth to London Heathrow; British Airways from Los Angeles to London Heathrow, and British Airways from New York John F. Kennedy to London Heathrow. Passengers will be tested 72 hours before their trip, as well as during and after travelling. If they test positive before travelling, they will have to reschedule or cancel their flight, but will be able to rebook at a later date without a fee.

The airline has announced that it will add twice-weekly services to the Indian cities of Chennai and Hyderabad from 19 November 19th, which will operate on Thursdays and Saturdays. The national carrier of the sultanate of Oman has also said that it will maintain its comprehensive safety program throughout all elements of the travel journey to ensure that guests fly confidently.

The airline has announced plans to begin rolling out ‘Verifly’ this month, a new mobile app to help passengers easily understand COVID-19 testing and documentation requirements. It’ll be available from 18 November on selected flights, and will give passengers a ‘pass’ or ‘fail’ status pre-travel depending on the amount of supporting information and documentation that has been provided.

The Abu Dhabi-based airline Etihad Airways has announced that it will launch a daily scheduled year-round flight to Tel Aviv in Israel from 28 March 2020. The launch of the flight follows the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the two nations, on 15 September.

The national airline of Sri Lanka has announced a new, direct twice-weekly service from London Heathrow to the capital of the Maldives, Male from 12 December. The route will operate until 13 April 2021, running alongside partner British Airways’ six-times-weekly direct Heathrow-Male service.

The airline has announced that it will resume flights on three domestic Australian routes from 27 November, with 14 weekly return services between Melbourne and Launceston, 13 between Melbourne and Hobart and 12 between Melbourne and Devonport. With the increase in flying, Qantas will also re-open its Club Lounge in Hobart and regional lounges in Devonport and Launceston from 2 December.

Qatar Airways has announced that it will both resume flights and increase services to several destinations in the coming weeks. The Middle Eastern airline will fly to Algiers twice a week from 13 November, with nine flights per week to Chicago to follow from 15 November. From 14 November, a twice-weekly service to Miami and 14 flights per week to New York will also resume. Next month, Kiev will welcome three flights a week from 18 December, two flights per week will depart for Phuket from 4 December, and three flights per week for Seychelles and Warsaw from 15 December and 16 December, respectively.

The governments of Singapore and Hong Kong have announced that from 22 November, quarantine-free travel will be possible via a bilateral travel bubble agreement on flights with Singapore Airlines and Cathay Pacific. The services will be limited to 200 passengers, and operate on a schedule of one flight per day initially. Further information on the bubble can be found on the respective government portals.

South African low-cost airline kulula has from today, 9 November, started to take new bookings for domestic flights within South Africa for travel dates from 1 December 2020.

The airline are due to start trial runs of rapid COVID-19 testing on flights between the German cities of Munich and Hamburg from 12 November. The tests will be free of charge and access to the boarding gate will be granted electronically within 30-60 minutes once a negative test is returned; if passengers do not wish to be tested, they may be transferred to separate flights that are not confirmed as 100% COVID-free.

The airline has announced the suspension of flights to a number of both long-haul and short-haul destinations in November and December 2020, as a result of new lockdown measures imposed across England. This includes the pausing of all flights from London Gatwick Airport until December.

The airline has announced that from 16 November it will begin offering pre-flight COVID-19 testing for passengers flying to Belize, Grenada and St Lucia. The test will be an at-home PCR version which can be purchased from a link on the airline website. Meanwhile, planned testing collaborations between American Airlines and the governments of Jamaica and the Bahamas are reportedly still on hold.