Skip to main content
Best News Website or Mobile Service
WAN-IFRA Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Best News Website or Mobile Service
Digital Media Awards Worldwide 2022
Hamburger Menu

Advertisement

Advertisement

Asia

Emirates to fly from India again after ban over COVID-19

Emirates to fly from India again after ban over COVID-19

Emirates planes are seen at Dubai International Airport on Feb 15, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Christopher Pike)

DUBAI: Aviation giant Emirates said on Sunday (Jun 20) that it will resume flights from India from next week, after Dubai lifted a ban imposed when COVID-19 cases spiked.

The United Arab Emirates, which includes Dubai, suspended all flights from India - including for transit passengers - in April in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

"We will resume carrying passengers from South Africa, Nigeria and India ... from Jun 23," Emirates said in a statement.

READ: Dubai airport terminal 1 to reopen this week, says operator

Dubai said on Saturday that only passengers from India "with a valid residence visa and who have received two doses of a UAE-approved vaccine" would be allowed to travel to the emirate.

They would also need a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of departure, a rapid test four hours before departure and another PCR test on arrival with "institutional quarantine" required until the results are received.

Dubai authorities did not specify the rules for transit passengers and Emirates did not say whether transit passengers were allowed to fly through Dubai en route to third nations.

READ: India asks states to 'carefully calibrate' COVID-19 lockdown easing

READ: 'Cooped up' Indians throng malls and markets weeks after COVID-19 surge

Some 300 flights a week were operating between the UAE and India before the ban was announced in April, according to local media, making the air corridor one of the busiest in the world.

The UAE is home to some 3.3 million Indians who make up a third of the population - most of them in Dubai.

Some Indians who had been stranded in their homeland during a coronavirus surge had hired private jets to take them back to the UAE, which had exempted private jets from the ban.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

Source: AFP/kg

Advertisement

Also worth reading

Advertisement