UAE constantly reviewing India, Pakistan flight suspensions: Emirates

Dubai - Flights from the subcontinent have been suspended since April 24.

The UAE authorities are constantly reviewing developments related to coronavirus in India, Pakistan and other countries, said a senior Emirates official.

“India and Pakistan routes are subject to government review and the development of the situation of the virus in those countries. We will wait to see what is coming up from the government. But there is a constant review of the development related to the Covid-19, not just to India and Pakistan, but across the globe,” Adel Al Redha, chief operating officer of Emirates, said in reply to a query during a virtual press briefing held on Thursday.

The UAE has suspended passenger flights from the Indian subcontinent since April 24.

While talking to local media during a virtual press briefing, Al Redha said Emirates is now operating close to 120 destinations, almost the same as pre-Covid-19 levels.

“This is all a very clear indication of the recovery of the aviation sector. We have always said that aviation will be one of the last to recover, especially those regions which are highly dependent on international markets. They will be lagging because of the various protocols that are imposed by different countries,” Al Redha added.

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He said travel from Dubai is picking up because many residents and nationals have not travelled for a long time.

“We are seeing a good demand - almost double of what we saw in earlier months as compared to today. People are travelling to their home countries because they couldn’t fly earlier due to lockdown and stringent requirements for quarantines and PCR tests. Then people want to travel to new destinations for breaks,” said Emirates chief operating officer.

“We are operating at 90 and 100 per cent seat factor on some routes and an average of 70-75 per cent seat factor to all the destinations that we are serving today.”

• Dubai