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Two leading Middle Eastern airlines have welcomed a decision to add the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to the amber list for travellers to England. The changes will come into effect on Sunday. Qatar Airways said it was seeing bookings soar since the announcement last night. Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker, said: “We are very proud to be playing our part in the reopening of our country to visitors in the safest way possible and supporting the next step in the development of Qatar’s tourism industry.

The NSW city of Tamworth will go into lockdown for one week from 5.00pm on Monday, 9 August 2021, after a COVID-positive woman from Newcastle travelled to the area.

Emirates airline on Thursday said customers flying to and from any destination in Africa can check-in up to 64kg of free baggage. Effective August 9, customers travelling in First and Business class on any Africa route can check in up to 64kg of free baggage or two pieces of 32kg each, regardless of where in the Emirates global network they are headed to or travelling from. Customers flying in Economy class on Saver, Flex and Flex Plus fares, can enjoy up to 46kg of free check-in baggage allowance or two pieces of 23kg each, while those on Special fares will have one free check-in bag of up to 23kg.

The Byron Shire, Richmond Valley, Lismore and Ballina Shire LGAs will go into lockdown at 6.00pm on Monday, 9 August 2021. The same rules will apply in lockdown, similar to the current restrictions in Greater Sydney. This follows a positive case from Sydney travelling to Byron Bay. The snap lockdown is set to last seven days and residents in those areas will be subject to stay-at-home orders. The rules will also be extended to those who have visited any of the regions since Saturday, 31 July 2021.

From 4.00pm on Sunday, 8 August 2021, the Cairns and Yarrabah Local Government Areas will go into lockdown for three days. The same rules will apply as the South East Queensland lockdown, however, two visitors will be allowed in homes.

he Northern Territory Chief Minister's Office says Cairns and Yarrabah in Far North Queensland will be declared as COVID-19 hotspots from 12.00pm on Sunday, 8 August 2021. Anyone who travels to the NT from those communities will be required to go into supervised quarantine for two weeks. People who have arrived from those areas over the past 10 days will be required to isolate until they receive a negative test result.

From 4pm Sunday, 8 August 2021, the 11 LGAs in South East Queensland will come out of lockdown. Some restrictions will continue to apply for the next two weeks.

Lockdown will be imposed on the Armidale Regional Council LGA in the Northern Tablelands in NSW. The lockdown will start at 5.00pm on Saturday, 7 August 2021 and will apply to all people in the LGA — which includes the major towns of Armidale and Guyra — and anyone who has visited the area since July 29. It will last until 12:01am on Sunday, August 15 2021 and the rules will be the same as the lockdown already imposed on Greater Sydney, the Blue Mountains, Central Coast, Wollongong, Shellharbour, the Hunter and Upper Hunter.

The ACT Government has declared 14 additional LGAs in regional NSW as COVID-19 affected areas from 11.59pm on Thursday, 5 August 2021. The LGAs declared as COVID-19 affected areas are: Armidale Regional Council, Cessnock City Council, Coffs Harbour City Council, Dubbo Regional Council, Dungog Shire Council, Lake Macquarie City Council, Newcastle City Council, Maitland City Council, Mid-Western Regional Council, Muswellbrook Shire Council, Port Stephens Council, Shoalhaven City Council, Singleton Council, and Wingecarribee Shire Council. Anyone who leaves these areas after 11.59pm o Thursday, 5 August 2021 and enters the ACT will be required to seek an exemption before arriving and must quarantine for 14 days. Anyone entering the ACT from these areas must complete an online exemption form within 72 hours prior to arriving in the ACT. ACT residents will automatically receive an exemption to enter the ACT and will be supported to safely return to their homes. Non-ACT residents must not enter the ACT without an approved exemption.

Queensland has declared all of Victoria as a hotspot. If you have been in a declared COVID-19 hotspot in the last 14 days you will not be allowed to enter Queensland, except for a limited range of people who can enter for essential purposes.

British Airways is adding thousands of extra seats on key routes to the UK from the United States and European Union. The move follows a “huge increase” in interest in travel to London following a government decision that quarantine restrictions would be lifted for fully-vaccinated US and EU customers when travelling to the UK. Within a couple of hours British Airways saw bookings from the US surging by 95 per cent, mainly from cities such as New York and Los Angeles, while European cities such as Berlin, Geneva and Hamburg were also popular.

Gulf Air, the national carrier of Bahrain, announced on Monday that it will ramp up its flights to Paris to a daily service starting immediately. The move follows the latest decision by French authorities to add the Gulf kingdom to its Green List of destinations. Being on the green list will mean that citizens and residents of Bahrain will be accepted to travel to France without the need to quarantine.

After months of suspending South African operations, Emirates resumes flights. The move follows the recent easing of UAE entry protocols for 12 countries. As a result, the airline has increased flights to Johannesburg from daily to 11 weekly flights, with four linked flights with Durban.

Premier Daniel Andrews has announced that all of Victoria will go into lockdown from 8pm on Thursday, 5 August 2021, for seven days. People will only be able to leave their homes for five reasons; getting the food and supplies you need, exercise for up to two hours, care or care giving, authorised work or education if you can't do it from home, or to get vaccinated at the nearest possible location.

Frontier Airlines has confirmed it will offer 15 new non-stop routes.The airline is expanding significantly in Miami with nine new routes, including its first-ever service to Aruba, along with flights to the Turks & Caicos. There are also new domestic routes to Portland, Rochester, St. Louis and Memphis. The low-cost carrier will also fly from Newark Liberty International Airport to the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and Jamaica, while from Philadelphia International Airport there is a new connection to the Bahamas.

The UK is reportedly set to lift rules forcing visitors to quarantine if they have arrived through the UAE or any other red list country. But this represents a somewhat hollow victory for one of the world’s busiest air routes, aviation experts told Arabian Business. British MPs are set to agree on a plan to allow red list travellers be quarantine-free provided they remain airside on transit through the airports.

The UAE and Bahrain will be removed from the UK's travel red list, the British government announced on Wednesday night, providing a major boost to tourism and allowing families to be reunited. They will join other amber list countries, meaning that people entering England from these points of origin do not have to pay to quarantine in a government hotel for 10 days.

Premier Peter Gutwein has announced that all of Victoria has been declared as high-risk level 2 as of 8.00pm on Thursday, 5 August 2021. Anyone who has spent time in Victoria in the last 14 days will not be able to enter unless deemed as an essential traveller or if you are a returning Tasmanian, in that case, you will need to quarantine in suitable premises.

Oman Air will resume flights to Jeddah on August 11th. The twice-weekly flights will operate on Wednesday and Saturday as WY 1675 from Muscat (MCT) and WY 1676 from Jeddah (JED). Flights from Muscat will depart at 15:25 and arrive in Jeddah at 17:40. Flights from Jeddah will depart at 19:40 and arrive in Muscat at 23:45.

Fully vaccinated residents and some unvaccinated individuals in certain categories, from prohibited countries, including India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda, will be allowed to return to the UAE under the latest travel update issued by authorities. The move was announced on Tuesday by the General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority (NCEMA) and will come into effect as of August 5.