Emirates Won’t Resume Flights Until July 2020 (At The Earliest)

Emirates Won’t Resume Flights Until July 2020 (At The Earliest)

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Emirates, perhaps the world’s most recognizable international airline brand, won’t be resuming regularly scheduled flights until July at the earliest.

The current state of Emirates’ operations

In late March 2020, the United Arab Emirates banned flights, causing Emirates and Etihad to completely suspend operations for a period of two weeks.

As of April 6, 2020, Emirates resumed flights on a very limited basis. These flights exclusively transport people from the UAE, so people can’t book flights to the UAE, as borders are closed. Currently we’re seeing:

  • Flights to London Heathrow 4x weekly
  • Flights to Frankfurt 3x weekly
  • Flights to Manila 3-4x weekly
  • A flight to Sao Paulo today

While they’re operating flights on a very limited basis, as you can see, this is essentially just to get people out of the country, and hardly represents a resumption of operations.

Emirates is operating very limited flights at the moment

Emirates pushes back relaunch to July 1, 2020

Up until recently, Emirates was supposed to resume some flights by mid-May 2020, but that has now been pushed back.

Emirates has now updated their schedule to reflect a July 1, 2020, relaunch date for regular operations. Note that:

  • I would assume that the date could be pushed back further, as this continues to evolve (and I think it’s highly likely that it will)
  • I think it’s unlikely the timeline will be moved forward

Don’t expect the Emirates A380 to be flying again soon

Why Emirates’ suspension matters

With dozens of airlines around the world grounded, why am I calling out an extension of service cuts by Emirates specifically (I did the same for Turkish Airlines)?

Well, because I think airlines like Emirates and Turkish are the ones to watch to get a sense of how international travel will recover:

  • Emirates is among the most global airlines in the world, and all of Emirates’ flights are international
  • I think watching Emirates will give a good indicator of when the global situation improves, in terms of borders opening, airline traffic picking up, etc.

Of course Emirates doesn’t have a crystal ball, but I do trust them in terms of having a good pulse on the situation.

All of Emirates’ flights are international

Bottom line

In a pre-COVID-19 era it would have been virtually unfathomable to think that a time would come where an airline like Emirates would ground their fleet for over three months. But that’s exactly what has happened.

Emirates will continue to remain grounded until the third quarter, and even then we’ll only see a gradual resumption of operations, assuming the timeline doesn’t get pushed back much further.

With talk of all kinds of countries keeping borders closed for the rest of the year, that timeline is probably still very optimistic…

Conversations (43)
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  1. Ashok Guest

    Shutting airlines operations will deteriorate the financial conditions of Emirates (or any airlines of the world) as it is one of the major source of income for Dubai govt. Worldwide airlines Company should think of people who are employed with them and we need to understand the irony of airlines Company that they are not going to pay them without work, so at least airlines should operate with limited capacity, roster staff so everyone’s bread...

    Shutting airlines operations will deteriorate the financial conditions of Emirates (or any airlines of the world) as it is one of the major source of income for Dubai govt. Worldwide airlines Company should think of people who are employed with them and we need to understand the irony of airlines Company that they are not going to pay them without work, so at least airlines should operate with limited capacity, roster staff so everyone’s bread and butter keep rolling. Simply shutting operations is not going to help, everyone’s money matter, just simply saying we will refund in 30/60/90 days not going to help.

  2. Missy Guest

    I’ve lost one trip to be with my husband in India, if I have to give up another in July/August, that will be a year without being with my husband.
    The second the US will let me out and India will let me in, I’m flying.

    My daughter and I sat on a 16 hour flight from Mumbai to Newark last year with the guy directly behind us nonstop coughing and blowing his...

    I’ve lost one trip to be with my husband in India, if I have to give up another in July/August, that will be a year without being with my husband.
    The second the US will let me out and India will let me in, I’m flying.

    My daughter and I sat on a 16 hour flight from Mumbai to Newark last year with the guy directly behind us nonstop coughing and blowing his very snotted up nose. The lady to the right and one seat behind ours had the stomach flu and ended up puking in her seat. Neither my daughter nor I got whatever crud those people had and we were directly in the air droplets pathway. If we didn’t get sick from those 16 hours of being directly exposed to some Indian viruses that we have no immunity to, without wearing a mask, than I feel zero fear about catching anything in an airplane. Airplane air will probably be the cleanest air most of us breath now lol.

  3. Marco Guest

    https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/290888/emirates-ns20-operations-as-of-0730gmt-21apr20/

  4. Charles Guest

    Can Emirates refund our money because we are now stranded in India Delhi and Emirates is not saying anything about our partial used flight ticket to travel back to South Africa.I guess I will never use Emirates again.

  5. Charles Guest

    Can Emirates refund our money because we are now stranded in India Delhi and Emirates is not saying anything about our partial used flight ticket.I guess I will never use Emirates again.

  6. Helmut Burchardt Guest

    do you about any endorse policy by Emirates?, all my flights with emirates were cancel, and the only change I have to return home (Buenos Aires) from Bangkok is by Qatar Airline or Ethiopian.

    Thanks in advice

  7. Samson Kalapala Guest

    What's the source of this Information being a valid fact. Is this just a assumption based on the situations and spread of COVID .

  8. Rob Guest

    I guess airlines will start to operate when borders are open and life comes back to normal - more or less - otherwise demand will be very low - no point to travel if restaurants, local attractions etc are closed. I do believe July/August is a reasonable timeline tough. Hong Kong predicts tourism in July will improve dramatically ( now nearly zero ). Hard to believe world will stay closed till end of the year - there is no country/economy which can afford that!

  9. Ricky Patel Guest

    Emirates had already lost me as a customer when I realized it is racist towards people of color. But recently, I had no other option to book Emirates for my family and the tickets were close to $6000. Now, I've waited for a month and they have still not refunded that. They say it can take up to 90 days for the refund. And even though they are advertising as "full refund", they are NOT...

    Emirates had already lost me as a customer when I realized it is racist towards people of color. But recently, I had no other option to book Emirates for my family and the tickets were close to $6000. Now, I've waited for a month and they have still not refunded that. They say it can take up to 90 days for the refund. And even though they are advertising as "full refund", they are NOT ready to publicly confirm that the cancellation fees will be waived off. A "full refund" does not necessarily mean cancellation fees are going to be waived off. Let's wait and see.

    It's interesting that they are holding our money so that they can pay their workers until bookings start gathering pace. Otherwise giving back money should have been an easy automatic 1-click bank transfer which can be done in the time the customer service associate takes to check the refund status.

    I sincerely hope this airline goes down merely for how racist the middle east is in general towards people of color and for the human rights violations in their labor.

  10. schar Guest

    Theres no way this is extending till July. Countries will collapse if they remain shut for months on end because of a virus. There is a difference between proper reaction and overreaction.

  11. Jean Roman New Member

    Anyone have any suggestions on how to get Emirates to refund fare? I've been waiting over a month, more than enough time. Their twitter accounts are replying with auto-answer boilerplate "we're busy" replies. Phone calls say to email the so-called "Refund Team" which is non-responsive (does it even exist?).

    After a month of patiently waiting I feel this is a terrible way to treat First Class revenue passengers. Emirates--I won't forget this next time I need to book.

  12. UA-NYC Diamond

    @Tiffany/Ben - It's really time to ban some of these "hoaxers" repeatedly posting on your site. It's one thing to allow a free flowing discussion - it's another thing to allow lies and disinformation to spread.

    Plenty of precedent for banning btw:
    https://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-infowars-google-coronavirus-covid-19-sandy-hook-android-app-1494752
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45442417
    https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories

    Would go a long way towards getting this site back to its true purpose. Not all traffic is good traffic.

    @Tiffany/Ben - It's really time to ban some of these "hoaxers" repeatedly posting on your site. It's one thing to allow a free flowing discussion - it's another thing to allow lies and disinformation to spread.

    Plenty of precedent for banning btw:
    https://www.newsweek.com/alex-jones-infowars-google-coronavirus-covid-19-sandy-hook-android-app-1494752
    https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-45442417
    https://www.vox.com/2018/8/6/17655658/alex-jones-facebook-youtube-conspiracy-theories

    Would go a long way towards getting this site back to its true purpose. Not all traffic is good traffic.

    1. Tiffany OMAAT

      @ UA-NYC -- We're trying to keep up with it, I promise!

  13. Jay Guest

    @John Was Trump right when he didn't do anything to prepare the country in February 2020? Or when he eliminated the CDC's pandemic response team in May 2018?

  14. Malc Guest

    @John, haha, nice one.

    But all joking aside, and leaving the liberal source aside, read the article by the doctor. It's worth a read.

  15. Sam Guest

    @Lucky where have you been hearing about countries keeping borders closed through the rest of the year? Can’t find much news on that. Thanks!

  16. David Guest

    Air France and KLM seem determined to continue flying to Dubai in May, odd that Emirates would operate such reduced schedule.

  17. nomas Guest

    @George

    Go ahead and play Russian Roulette with the gun pointed at yourself!

    But in continuing to fly, you are also pointing another gun at people who are around you as you fly.

  18. Jan Guest

    @Fred as opposed to Europe with more than 10% death rate, 2-3x higher deaths per 1M population

  19. Sabine New Member

    @Simon Arda Metin

    First flights available for reservation as of 0730GMT 21APR20, are scheduled on 01JUL20.

    https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/290888/emirates-ns20-operations-as-of-0730gmt-21apr20/

  20. Fred Guest

    Oh my God. What a bunch of nut jobs on here. America truly is a country of idiots run by an idiot. Stay safe

  21. Simon Arda Metin Guest

    Where are you sourcing this from? I checked with emirates and their website - no such news is being broadcast. no other media outlets are reporting this either.

  22. Simon Arda Metin Guest

    Hi,

    Where are you sourcing this from? The Emirates Airlines website are not posting any such updates, nor are any other media outlets.

  23. KevinS Guest

    @Joey

    Perhaps true, but (as others have pointed out) cancer and heart disease are not contagious. Their incidence is not going to spike or decline based in social distancing rules and practices.To the extent more people still die of those today (and I think in the US C-19 has surpassed them for the moment), that is with social distancing and shut downs in place. Would that still be the case if we had gone about our normal business? I doubt it.

  24. Malc Guest

    Wow, the ignorance and conspiracy nonsense in the comments are eye-opening.

    Those people should spend a few minutes reading this article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/14/magazine/coronavirus-er-doctor-diary-new-york-city.html

  25. Jason Guest

    @William

    Why are you such an asshole?

  26. William Member

    it’s amazing how inept people can be about something that is super easy to understand. Oh it’s a hoax? Oh the numbers aren’t that bad? Oh open up the country.

    This is a travel blog so I’ll keep it simple for you children:

    You know how pre flight your captain tells you your arrival time, then when your in flight they get NEW UPDATED and data and RECENT reports from people ahead on the same...

    it’s amazing how inept people can be about something that is super easy to understand. Oh it’s a hoax? Oh the numbers aren’t that bad? Oh open up the country.

    This is a travel blog so I’ll keep it simple for you children:

    You know how pre flight your captain tells you your arrival time, then when your in flight they get NEW UPDATED and data and RECENT reports from people ahead on the same route and then make an informed and updated estimate, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter.

    Sameeee concept. Not hard to understand.

  27. sunviking82 Guest

    I have always thought the middle east 3 would be in big trouble if either A) a global recession hit or B) the price of oil tanked and now we have both. Cheap oil is more of a benefit to other airlines since it's a true cost of operations while for the ME3 it helps to finance them. Just like PANAM and Braniff these 3 will be changed significantly if $10 oil ( or negitive...

    I have always thought the middle east 3 would be in big trouble if either A) a global recession hit or B) the price of oil tanked and now we have both. Cheap oil is more of a benefit to other airlines since it's a true cost of operations while for the ME3 it helps to finance them. Just like PANAM and Braniff these 3 will be changed significantly if $10 oil ( or negitive oil) is around for a while. Also the stigma and hoops to jump through for international travel going forward will limit the audience significantly. Eithad will likely go away; Emirates maybe 1/2 its size and 777 only and QATAR will also be a shell of it's self for at least the next 2 - 4 years IMO. There will be significant consolidation and only a few large players will survive. Alliance will also become more important and invest rules will be revisited (could see AA as part of IAG?).

    Regardless the ambitious and mis-guided plans for these 3 carriers to spend spend spend and not operate as a P&L responsible business will be their undoing. My biggest fear now is the unrest that will come out of the middle east when they don't have oil money.

  28. William Member

    @jason clearly you have dyslexia. I said answering the question “where do you get your trusted news from?” says everything about a person. Did I say anywhere in my comment where I’m getting my information other than scientific websites? Go ahead tell me what trusted news sites I mention I read, I’ll wait....

    And guess the fuck what our country is failing because of our governments response to this virus. All these people who...

    @jason clearly you have dyslexia. I said answering the question “where do you get your trusted news from?” says everything about a person. Did I say anywhere in my comment where I’m getting my information other than scientific websites? Go ahead tell me what trusted news sites I mention I read, I’ll wait....

    And guess the fuck what our country is failing because of our governments response to this virus. All these people who are getting laid of your speak of? Guess what in countries like Denmark where the GOVERNMENT subsidized 70 percent of their salary and allowed them to keep their benefits, they don’t have this problem.

    Also hospitals were critically underfunded before this situation and your worried about the hospital losing money? Who cares, money should be no issue, the government has a responsibility despite the costs.

    You think hospitals are losing money because of this? Hospitals were losing money because of how inefficiently our health care system as a whole is run. Do some reading cause even with me cussing I still sound more based on logic than your dyslexic self lol

    hey Floyd try again haha

  29. Jason Guest

    @William

    You can't get a non-essential doctor's visit/surgery/procedure because they have been forbidden by governments.

    Meanwhile...places like dermatology offices and dentists offices have laid off most of their staff. Hospitals are going to lose hundreds of millions if not a few billion because they can't perform elective and non-emergency procedures.

    The economic disaster here is far worse than your "trusted news sources" are telling you. Maybe you're the one who needs to rethink where...

    @William

    You can't get a non-essential doctor's visit/surgery/procedure because they have been forbidden by governments.

    Meanwhile...places like dermatology offices and dentists offices have laid off most of their staff. Hospitals are going to lose hundreds of millions if not a few billion because they can't perform elective and non-emergency procedures.

    The economic disaster here is far worse than your "trusted news sources" are telling you. Maybe you're the one who needs to rethink where you get your information from.

  30. UA-NYC Diamond

    BTW I love the people who compare CV-19 to heart disease, or cancer, or car accidents, or swimming pool drownings(!).

    News flash morons - those aren't CONTAGIONS that can SPREAD like wildfire through a society.

    SMFH.

  31. UA-NYC Diamond

    Much like the small amount of protesters making noise in a few state capitals at the moment (riled up by Faux News), the hoaxers on this site are noisy but are in a distinct minority (thankfully).

    This is one of those times one can hope natural selection does its thing...

  32. AJ NYC Member

    Also - not that surprisingly - there are exactly zero A380s in the air right now according to Flightradar24 app. At least 747 still does a lot of cargo operations so there’s always plenty flying around.

  33. Joey Diamond

    I think as we find more information and data, we will react accordingly. As of this writing, more people die of cancer or heart disease each day. If that statistic remains true a few months from now, I can see countries gradually opening up again.

  34. EL Guest

    Ben, will you cover SAS withdrawal from HKG market?

  35. William Member

    @john if this is a hoax tell me how quick you can get an non essential doctor visit scheduled lol

    So all the people who are sick around the world who are showing their symptoms are leading a coordinated effort to fool you John, that world is trying to get you isn’t it, is it after you little buddy don’t worry it’ll be okay.

    One simple question says a lot about everyone here.

    ...

    @john if this is a hoax tell me how quick you can get an non essential doctor visit scheduled lol

    So all the people who are sick around the world who are showing their symptoms are leading a coordinated effort to fool you John, that world is trying to get you isn’t it, is it after you little buddy don’t worry it’ll be okay.

    One simple question says a lot about everyone here.

    Where do you get your trusted news and information from? ... cause it’s clearly not scientific website lol

  36. John (not the other guy) Guest

    @Will, fully agree. I'm still not sure how people can still think this is a "hoax", totally divorced from reality and science. If the death curve in a place like the US is lower than some of the initial projections is partially because social distance is working. We open it back up again and we're looking at that working being wasted.

    This is as dumb as people claiming Y2K was a hoax when thousands of...

    @Will, fully agree. I'm still not sure how people can still think this is a "hoax", totally divorced from reality and science. If the death curve in a place like the US is lower than some of the initial projections is partially because social distance is working. We open it back up again and we're looking at that working being wasted.

    This is as dumb as people claiming Y2K was a hoax when thousands of people put in a lot of time to make sure nothing happened when the clock struck midnight.

  37. Will Member

    @George the irony of how out of touch you are with reality and what is the right thing do as a responsible human is pretty funny. I could say a lot more but you’ve already proven you don’t understand proper context of a situation with your comment. Good for you georgie boy have fun on all those reduced service flights and cities with nothing open. Really seeing the world there aren’t you georgie boy lol...

    @George the irony of how out of touch you are with reality and what is the right thing do as a responsible human is pretty funny. I could say a lot more but you’ve already proven you don’t understand proper context of a situation with your comment. Good for you georgie boy have fun on all those reduced service flights and cities with nothing open. Really seeing the world there aren’t you georgie boy lol

    -besides his senseless comment haha ....

    When all this is said and done there will be many movies and documentaries to come but the one about the aviation industry and what ever it turns out to be will for sure be interesting. Tons and tons of footage of majority of fleets on the ground around the world for months and months on end.

  38. NYCtraveler Guest

    @ George - I agree 100%. I have zero reservations about hopping on a flight and am still cautiously optimistic that trips to Croatia and France work out later this year. I understand that some people are more concerned and/or vulnerable than others - let them stay home. Each day we dig a deeper and deeper hole if the rest of aren't able to support businesses, to travel, and to live. This virus doesn't have...

    @ George - I agree 100%. I have zero reservations about hopping on a flight and am still cautiously optimistic that trips to Croatia and France work out later this year. I understand that some people are more concerned and/or vulnerable than others - let them stay home. Each day we dig a deeper and deeper hole if the rest of aren't able to support businesses, to travel, and to live. This virus doesn't have ebola-level mortality rates. Most of us will be fine but are overreacting due to non-stop media coverage. Our reaction as a society to 9/11 was a determination to take our country back and not let terrorism win. Now our reaction is to cower at home, binge watch TV, and stockpile Etsy homemade face masks. What a sad reflection on the world.

  39. tom Guest

    @ George, no point travelling if the destinations are closed. Nothing to do or see

  40. George Guest

    Wow. This really brings it home. The damage we are doing to ourselves, all as humans, is unbelievable.

    I bet even 10 years ago, we would not have been this able to apply bad groupthink to such an event.

    Now, with social media and a 24 hour news cycle - ‘None of us are as dumb as all of us’


    I’m still traveling every week around the USA, got international flights booked in...

    Wow. This really brings it home. The damage we are doing to ourselves, all as humans, is unbelievable.

    I bet even 10 years ago, we would not have been this able to apply bad groupthink to such an event.

    Now, with social media and a 24 hour news cycle - ‘None of us are as dumb as all of us’


    I’m still traveling every week around the USA, got international flights booked in June/July/August/September/October and planning all the way to June 2021.

    Hopefully once more people get on planes they will realize - oh yeah, we overreacted a little bit here...

  41. Sabine New Member

    @Robert Schrader
    Actually they do, they have revised their waiver policy and now offer full refunds.
    https://www.emirates.com/media-centre/emirates-puts-customers-first-in-covid-19-waiver-policies/

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Ashok Guest

Shutting airlines operations will deteriorate the financial conditions of Emirates (or any airlines of the world) as it is one of the major source of income for Dubai govt. Worldwide airlines Company should think of people who are employed with them and we need to understand the irony of airlines Company that they are not going to pay them without work, so at least airlines should operate with limited capacity, roster staff so everyone’s bread and butter keep rolling. Simply shutting operations is not going to help, everyone’s money matter, just simply saying we will refund in 30/60/90 days not going to help.

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Missy Guest

I’ve lost one trip to be with my husband in India, if I have to give up another in July/August, that will be a year without being with my husband. The second the US will let me out and India will let me in, I’m flying. My daughter and I sat on a 16 hour flight from Mumbai to Newark last year with the guy directly behind us nonstop coughing and blowing his very snotted up nose. The lady to the right and one seat behind ours had the stomach flu and ended up puking in her seat. Neither my daughter nor I got whatever crud those people had and we were directly in the air droplets pathway. If we didn’t get sick from those 16 hours of being directly exposed to some Indian viruses that we have no immunity to, without wearing a mask, than I feel zero fear about catching anything in an airplane. Airplane air will probably be the cleanest air most of us breath now lol.

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Marco Guest

https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/290888/emirates-ns20-operations-as-of-0730gmt-21apr20/

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