UAE to further ease Covid-19 travel restrictions in July

With more flights and fewer quarantine restrictions, will July 2021 resemble a pre-pandemic UAE?

Since the pandemic outbreak, travel has been severely curtailed but July could be the turning point the travel industry in the UAE has been waiting for. Dubai’s national carrier Emirates will operate at close to 90% of its pre-pandemic and the UAE capital Abu Dhabi will allow international travel to and from Abu Dhabi again with a green list extended to cover “most markets”.

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Abu Dhabi Eases Border Control
Abu Dhabi has announced that it will end quarantine requirements for all international arrivals starting from 1 July.

Speaking about the proposed changes, Tourism and Marketing, DCT Abu Dhabi executive director Ali Al Shaiba, said: “It will be similar to the Dubai system – the PCR protocol will be different from high-risk to low-risk destinations.”

Abu Dhabi currently requires travellers to quarantine for 10 days unless they are from a ‘green-list’ country. Al Shaiba explained: “We are announcing an extended green list – this green list will cover a majority of the markets that we are tapping into. Hopefully, by 1 July, everybody will be allowed to travel to Abu Dhabi.”

With regards to internal travel, Al Shaiba indicated that Abu Dhabi will “enhance” its border with Dubai to make travel easier saying: “We’re working with the government on a plan for that border to make it more tourist-friendly.”

Emirates back at 90%
In another sign of recovery, Dubai-based carrier Emirates has announced plans to operate 880 weekly services to 124 cities by the end of July. This is close to 90% of its pre-pandemic network.

Flights will resume to Venice on 1 July; Phuket, Nice, Orlando and Mexico City on 2 July 2; Lyon on 9 July, and Malta on 14 July. The carrier is also launching a new route to Miami on 22 July, bringing its US network to 12 destinations.

In addition, 12 existing routes to cities across Europe, Africa and North America, including Munich, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Zurich, Vienna, Prague, Madrid, Stockholm, Brussels, Lisbon, Chicago and Tunis will start operating with increased frequencies In July.

As part of the ramping up of services Emirates plans to fly more than 30 of its A380 aircraft this summer, alongside its fleet of 151 B777s.