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On May 1, 2021, an Emirates airline Boeing 777 arrives at Sydney’s International Airport in Sydney, Australia. Getty Images News | Getty Images | James D. Morgan Despite mounting concern about the delta coronavirus variety responsible for more than a third of cases in the United Arab Emirates, Emirates airline is preparing for a summer travel surge over the next two weekends. In the next days, Emirates expects over 450,000 passengers to fly from, to, and through Terminal 3 at Dubai International Airport (DXB) on over 1,600 flights. “The airline’s busiest days will be the next two weekends, July 2-3 and July 9-10,” Emirates said in a statement on Wednesday. “However, heavy passenger volume is expected to begin today and continue through July 12,” it added. During the same period, nearly 100,000 passengers will arrive in Dubai on Emirates aircraft to begin their summer vacations, according to the airline. The seasonal travel increase coincides with rising temperatures in the UAE, where temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius (104.0 degrees Fahrenheit) or more in July. Emirates, one of the UAE’s two national flag carriers, expects to increase flight capacity to 90% of pre-pandemic levels by July. After a 15-month hiatus owing to the pandemic, Dubai Airports reopened Terminal 1 and Concourse D on June 24. “All Emirates and DXB touchpoints are fully prepared to handle the increased passenger traffic, with procedures and protocols in place to ensure customer safety as they travel through Terminal 3,” Emirates stated. According to Heathrow Airport data, the more than half million individuals scheduled to transit the UAE in the next days is nearly equal to the entire passenger flow of London’s Heathrow Airport in May of this year. On April 6, 2021, an Etihad Airways Boeing 787-9 “Dreamliner” aircraft lands at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport near Tel Aviv after arriving from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the company’s first scheduled commercial trip from Abu Dhabi. Getty Images | JACK GUEZ | AFP Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, announced on Wednesday that it will expand its “certified to fly” program. To reduce passenger processing time, the initiative allows travelers to validate Covid-19 travel documents before arriving at the airport. “We understand that these are difficult times for travelers, and this has been a significant initiative to make our passengers’ trips as simple as possible,” Etihad’s vice president for global airports and network operations, John Wright, said in a statement. The predicted summer travel spike comes amid new cautions about the virus’s delta version, which is more transmissible, causes more hospitalizations, and lowers vaccine efficacy, according to data. According to the UAE Health Department, the delta variation, which was first detected in India, accounts for 33.9 percent of cases in the UAE. The UK variety accounts for 11.3 percent of cases, whereas the South African variant continues to have the highest infection incidence (39.2%). On Tuesday, the UAE announced 1,747 new cases of the virus. Concerns about the virus prompted the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to reissue a Level 4 “do not travel” warning for the UAE on Monday, the highest possible level. The United Arab Emirates is still on the United Kingdom’s “red list” for travel, which it has been since late January. Brits in the UAE have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision, notably the red list’s demand for hotel quarantine. According to Johns Hopkins University, forty percent of the UAE’s ten million people are now fully vaccinated. Despite warnings about severe coronavirus variations, the high local vaccination rate, new aircraft routes, and loosening restrictions on vacation hotspots have given locals and residents the confidence and desire to travel again. Emirates has promised to maintain strong safety standards for passengers. The airline was one of the first in the world to trial the IATA Travel Pass, which will soon be expanded to all routes across its network. To ensure secure passenger travel, Emirates has partnered with Al Hosn, the UAE Covid tracing app. “Emirates customers can travel with confidence, knowing that the airline and its partners have gone to great lengths to ensure that the airport journey is as safe and smooth as possible,” the company stated./nRead More

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