Yesterday I wrote about how Emirates will be resuming flights in a few days, and we now have more details of what that will look like…
In this post:
All UAE flights banned for two weeks
A bit over a week ago, the government of the UAE banned all scheduled passenger flights to & from the country for a period of 14 days. This was a drastic measure to try to contain the spread of COVID-19.
Prior to that, the UAE had already banned all nationals from leaving the country, and banned all foreigners from entering the country, meaning the airline was essentially only open to transit passengers.
It’s pretty incredible how this all went down. Prior to the official announcement from the government, Emirates had announced that they were suspending all operations, then an hour later they backtracked, and then shortly thereafter they reversed their reversal.
Emirates has suspended all operations for two weeks
Emirates resuming operations on April 6
I’ve been curious to see how this situation would unfold in the UAE:
- While the flight ban was initially only for two weeks, I figured it could very well be extended
- The UAE has a huge incentive to get COVID-19 under control (aside from just generally doing what’s good for people); they were supposed to host EXPO 2020, though it’s now looking like that will be delayed until 2021
- Emirates primarily carries transit passengers, and with so many countries having closed borders, the logistics of operating an international network are extremely complicated
HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum (the CEO of Emirates, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, and Chairman of Dubai Airports — does he have enough job titles?) announced on Twitter that Emirates will in fact be resuming operations on April 6, 2020:
- Emirates has received approval from UAE authorities to start flying a limited number of passenger flights starting them
- From April 6, flights will initially carry travelers outbound from the UAE
What flights is Emirates resuming?
As of April 6, 2020, Emirates will fly from Dubai to the following airports, using two cabin Boeing 777-300ERs:
- London Heathrow 4x per week
- Brussels 3x per week
- Frankfurt 3x per week
- Paris 3x per week
- Zurich 3x per week
Flights will operate from Dubai International Airport Terminal 2 until further notice, in order to consolidate operations as much as possible. The flights will only carry passengers outbound from the UAE, while the airline will carry cargo in both directions.
Emirates is resuming operations gradually as of April 6, but not on the A380
Bottom line
Emirates will be resuming operations as of April 6, 2020, though it sounds like they’ll be taking a gradual approach.
The airline will initially operate a total of 16x weekly flights to five destinations in Europe, using Boeing 777-300ERs. It’s interesting to me that all five destinations are in Europe, and they’re not operating any flights to Asia or any other region.
I imagine it’ll be a while before their massive fleet of A380s is back to flying around the globe.
Arguably airlines that rely heavily on transit passengers have it even tougher than airlines that are based out of the gateway where many passengers originate & terminate. When you consider global immigration restrictions at this point (which seemingly change by the hour), running an operation like this seems like a nightmare.
When will flights resume from Dubai to Saudi Arabia?
Confirmed flight Bangkok, Dubai, Boston June 3. Can’t find my confirmed reservation on Emirates site. Does that mean it’s been cancelled? Haven’t heard anything from Emirates yet
Assalamoalikum when Emirates resuming flights to Chicago.
@Alexander Murphy, check out Rewandir and Kenya Airways. They have flights from May 16. No Emirates Flights to Nigeria for now even on June calender. Good Luck!
I am on visit visa and I need to return to my country Nigeria Emirates should state when flights will be available for Nigerian citizens all the commission uae are providing are only making benefits to there citizens and not non citizen this country is really not what it seems to be everyone is trying to scam each other to survive just being up a legit news on when flights will be available to Nigeria
We were booked on flight this week Sydney to Heathrow via Dubai with Emirates??
When will emirates start relief flights to India? With operations at work shut down abrubtly and being out of work, a lot of Indians are stranded in the UAE and just biding time staying almost locked up in hotel rooms with limited food etc. Please start a relief flight to important Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi , Kochi etc so that our people can get back home to their families. My husband himself had an...
When will emirates start relief flights to India? With operations at work shut down abrubtly and being out of work, a lot of Indians are stranded in the UAE and just biding time staying almost locked up in hotel rooms with limited food etc. Please start a relief flight to important Indian cities like Mumbai, Delhi , Kochi etc so that our people can get back home to their families. My husband himself had an emirates tkt to fly home later this month but now cannot use it. It's a long way off till normal commercial flight operations resume and then theres the 14 day quarantine too in the home country. Please help out in this depressing situation. Thank you.
I miss my home I can’t survive UAE
Please let me know flight to tanzania
So I go home!
I miss my kids my family
Take me back home
Is there any idea at all when inbound flights from the US to Afghanistan via Dubai Terminal 2 will resume
My flight is to Lagos, Nigeria from Edinburgh for April 25. Leave Dubai April 26 and arrive Lagos April 26.
Pls how feasible is this?
When will emirates fly from south Africa to kuweit
Only euriope????????What a white country.....
Hi, please inform me when india flights will resume. My employment visa have been cancelled and i want to go bangalore, india as early as possible.
Why not from denmark to pakistan ???
I am wondering when Emirates resuming their flights from CRK ( Philippines) via Dubai to Toronto?
My flights were all cancelled for April 16.....
It's very important to deal with your financial portfolio in person sometimes - gotta have those Zurich flights...
I read:
These flights will be for repatriation outbound AND inbound
Outbound for foreign nationals in UAE to be repatriated, AND
Inbound for Emiratis wishing to return home
(Someone verify the inbound, I can't trace where I read it.)
I wonder when Emirates start the Johannesburg flights be it Repatriation flights as we are stuck here until they do
@vbscript2
Dubai Civil Aviation Authority depends from the GCAA which is a national entity and the director general, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi responds to the various cabinets and will implement the will and the decisions of the government. Emirates CEO will not bypass the central government. In fact, if you follow this blog, the UAE decided on March 25 to ground all air traffic (with exception of cargo and a few others) and Emirates has...
@vbscript2
Dubai Civil Aviation Authority depends from the GCAA which is a national entity and the director general, Saif Mohammed Al Suwaidi responds to the various cabinets and will implement the will and the decisions of the government. Emirates CEO will not bypass the central government. In fact, if you follow this blog, the UAE decided on March 25 to ground all air traffic (with exception of cargo and a few others) and Emirates has first announced the suspension, then not all and then all the flights.
We as a family are due to fly out off Glasgow on the 1 /7 /20 on emirates to Dubai do you think that might be possible . If not could we postpone until next year
Is @George for real?? The whole world is still on its a55, particularly the US which hasn't even peaked. There's a long road to (not) travel before any sane person should be considering flying.
Dudes like @George, with massive, blatent self-interest in getting people our should be locked up as a health hazard. A 2020 version of Typhoid Mary (Google it, youngsters!)
I don't get it. All destinations are in Western Europe and the UAE is still in lockdown. So are they selling tickets Frankfurt to Zurich via Dubai?
This can be only for repatriation flights.
Isn't Emirates serving Melbourne w/ an A380?
That's what I've been told so...
Emirates doesn't really have a choice given that most other countries are in complete shutdown. India, which they serve with around 30 flights daily, is locked down at least until Apr 13. Even after that, only limited domestic flights are expected to resume.
@George should be forcibly detained in an asylum for the criminally selfish and deranged. To be kept in a straightjacket, unable to touch keyboards.
I hope this is true ... I really want to see my sister she is all alone. But safety and health is first above all I hope they take this decision wisely.
It's ok for people not stuck aboard there hundreds of people who are. it's a good move by Emirates to start up again please people don't be so negative . All the best to Emirates for least trying to get back some normality
End the blockade.
I have a flight with Emirates, there is no way I am going to fly this year. I would rather take full refund ofy flights. It's better not to take chance. Health is more important to me. I wish all the flights run empty.
I have a non-refundable first class ticket to S. Africa first week of next month, and if Emirates re-starts these flights and both of my flights have service restored, I'll happily walk away from the ticket (several thousand dollars US) without a second thought.
Aside from my personal wishes that Emirates stay grounded for a spell, it is exceptionally irresponsible for Emirates to try and start flight resumptions this soon, and I really hope that...
I have a non-refundable first class ticket to S. Africa first week of next month, and if Emirates re-starts these flights and both of my flights have service restored, I'll happily walk away from the ticket (several thousand dollars US) without a second thought.
Aside from my personal wishes that Emirates stay grounded for a spell, it is exceptionally irresponsible for Emirates to try and start flight resumptions this soon, and I really hope that their planes go out empty - not to punish EK, but because what they're doing is so potentially dangerous.
@George...... Excuse me, but WHAT PLANET DO YOU LIVE ON? You write.. "good to see things return to normal" and " people are happy to lock themselves indoors" . Get real, stop taking whatever hallucinogenic stuff you are on.
@Lucky
Two observations. The first, EXPO has been postponed for one year. Same as it has happened for the Olympics in Japan. I think carrying on with business as usual would be madness for anyone, same as Wimbledon, canceled for the first time after the second world war. Second observation is that the initial flights will be very limited and will carry initially residents to and from their home country, to and from Dubai.
Yeah, sure. Wishful thinking. Nothing is going to be "starting up again" for a long time. Like, mid-summer at the earliest.
I’d assume the destination governments are subsidising these flights, as with other repatriation efforts.
@Lucky - Only outbound flights from Dubai will be carrying passengers, to be honest, I expect the flights to be 20-30 per cent full and the seats are limited to the citizens of the destination, you can even consider it as a repatriation flight tbh. Also, the inbound flights are not allowed to carry passengers, so rule out the idea of transit, heck, you can't even arrive into DXB. Also, those
l-i-m-i-t-e-d destinations are...
@Lucky - Only outbound flights from Dubai will be carrying passengers, to be honest, I expect the flights to be 20-30 per cent full and the seats are limited to the citizens of the destination, you can even consider it as a repatriation flight tbh. Also, the inbound flights are not allowed to carry passengers, so rule out the idea of transit, heck, you can't even arrive into DXB. Also, those
l-i-m-i-t-e-d destinations are Heathrow, Brussels, Frankfurt, Paris and Zurich.
@Shake I'm fully aware. State-owned or otherwise, having an airline's CEO also be the head of the agency in charge of air safety regulations is a major conflict of interest.
@vbscript2
If you didn't know yet, Emirates is a state-owned airline..
AA and UA are public companies, so you just said nonsense.
Am a Nigerian on a 2 weeks visit to uk with my daughter I was to leave uk on the 23rd of March but my ticket was canceled I do t no what to do and my next line of action
"the CEO of Emirates, President of the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority, and Chairman of Dubai Airports"
Glad to know there's no conflict of interest going on there...
Can you imagine the reaction if Doug Parker or Oscor Munoz were also Administrator of the FAA, let alone if they were also managing all of the airports?
@George, there is a global pandemic ongoing with a very high mortality rate. This is not people being selfish, it's people being socially responsible It's on governments now to step up and provide for people, not have individuals out there risking their lives and their families lives in service of the market and shareholder value. Truly unbelievable in spite of what has gone down and what is to come that we have people bemoaning quarantines...
@George, there is a global pandemic ongoing with a very high mortality rate. This is not people being selfish, it's people being socially responsible It's on governments now to step up and provide for people, not have individuals out there risking their lives and their families lives in service of the market and shareholder value. Truly unbelievable in spite of what has gone down and what is to come that we have people bemoaning quarantines and stay in place orders..
Huge amount of foreign and UAE nationals dotted around the globe that need repatriation, this will come as a relief to a lot of families currently displaced. I have seen Emirates Sky Cargo flights on Flightradar24 every day.
Is there an option to have "combi" style flights in the early months when travel resumes?
Lufthansa for example already has an A330 where part of the seating was removed for cargo. That was a one-off but given that more cargo is going to be traveling in the next few months than passengers, would it be viable?
Also with social distancing guidelines directly at odds with the increasingly crammed seating, airlines may need...
Is there an option to have "combi" style flights in the early months when travel resumes?
Lufthansa for example already has an A330 where part of the seating was removed for cargo. That was a one-off but given that more cargo is going to be traveling in the next few months than passengers, would it be viable?
Also with social distancing guidelines directly at odds with the increasingly crammed seating, airlines may need to space passengers more: E.g, on a 3-3-3 787 or A350 they may sell 2 x 2 x 2 so there is always a middle seat empty?
Again safety first, but even when traveling becomes safe again, I don't think we're going to instantly go back to pre-COVID levels. It will be essential for airlines to be creative.
Very interesting. Seems like might just be repatriation flights at first, as it seems that some foreign nations may still be in UAE seeking to leave.
In the meantime, does anyone know if Emirates Sky-cargo has continued to opperate during the passenger ban?
Nice, it’s good to see things starting to return to normal. Very encouraging. Hopefully people will start traveling again quickly.
Prices are low, planes are empty, hotels are cheap. The world needs us all to start spending money again. Hopefully we step up as a society and do what is needed.
I am pessimistic, I think most people just think about themselves as we’ve seen the last few weeks. People are happy to lock themselves...
Nice, it’s good to see things starting to return to normal. Very encouraging. Hopefully people will start traveling again quickly.
Prices are low, planes are empty, hotels are cheap. The world needs us all to start spending money again. Hopefully we step up as a society and do what is needed.
I am pessimistic, I think most people just think about themselves as we’ve seen the last few weeks. People are happy to lock themselves indoors to protect themselves. So, we’ll see how soon they get out there and inject money into the travel industry to help others return to work.
Buena suerte.
Any sign of things opening back up is welcome. Fingers crossed this actually happens and that it doesnt lead to an 'unflattening' of the curve.
As they initially will only carry passengers outbound (guess all being repatriation flights as a lot of travellers have been stranded in Dubai by the sudden shutdown enforced by the UAE authorities) cargo will certainly make up for empty flights inbound, since cargo is booming and demand up by more than 20%.
As to Expo 2020, according to their Twitter account it will most likely be postponed to 2021.
Interesting. My June flight between Sydney and London has been cancelled and disappeared from my booking. Wonder if it will reappear?