Airline announces resumption of flights to some Italian destinations
The chairman and chief executive of Emirates on Monday called on more countries to lift quarantine requirements for air passengers, as the UAE’s long-haul operator looks to resume its services to destinations that have eased their COVID-19 restrictions.
The Dubai-based carrier is looking to increase its operations in the Italian market to 21 weekly flights starting July, following the European state’s recent announcement to grant quarantine-free entry to qualified travellers from the UAE.
Under the so-called “COVID-tested flights” policy, Italy-bound flyers from the UAE, as well as the United States, Canada and Japan, will not be mandated to isolate themselves upon arrival, provided they have tested negative for coronavirus.
“We welcome the COVID-tested flight arrangements and would like to thank the Italian and UAE authorities for their ongoing efforts to ease and facilitate international travel,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates chairman and chief executive.
“We hope that more countries will consider similar arrangements to facilitate quarantine-free travel,” he added.
Italy’s new quarantine-free entry will take effect from June 2. Travellers bound to Italy are advised to hold a negative COVID-19 PCR-RT or rapid antigen test result valid for 48 hours prior to departure. Upon arrival in Italy, travellers are also required to take a rapid antigen swab test, at their own cost.
New services
Emirates said on Monday that it will initially offer three flights per week on the Dubai-Venice route starting from July 1.
The airline will also increase its services to Milan from eight to ten weekly flights in July. This will include a daily service on the Dubai-Milan-New York JFK route, and a three-weekly return service between Dubai and Milan.
“Together with Emirates’ five weekly flights to Rome and three weekly flights to Bologna, this will take the airline’s total services to Italy to 21 weekly flights to four cities in July,” Emirates said in a statement.
The airline will operate Boeing 777-300ER aircraft to serve passengers travelling to and from the four Italian cities.
Airlines around the world have been bleeding billions of dollars in cash since air passenger numbers plummeted. Air traffic nosedived by approximately 90 percent at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020.
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