In what has been a busy month in the world of aviation, we break down the main highlights from carriers based around the Middle East.
Emirates – The carrier, who announced the restoration of some of its services back in May to Chicago, Frankfurt, London Heathrow, Madrid, Melbourne, Milan, Paris, Sydney & Toronto is further restoring its service to several key markets. Please see the dates below.
Services effective June 8th,
· Islamabad
· Karachi
· Lahore
Services effective June 15th,
· Amsterdam
· Bahrain
· Brisbane
· Copenhagen
· Dublin
· Hong Kong
· Jakarta
· Kuala Lumpur
· Manchester
· New York (JFK)
· Perth
· Seoul (ICN)
· Singapore
· Vienna
· Zurich
The airline has confirmed that all flights will be operated by its Boeing 777 fleet only, meaning that all A380s remain grounded until further notice. It is important to know that most of these services are for transiting passengers only as the United Arab Emirates is still operating on a strict permit system entry for approved residents and citizens only. It is rumoured that tourist will be welcome back into the country (U.A.E) from July 1st but this is yet to be confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Source Emirates.com
Etihad – The Abu Dhabi based carrier has announced the restoration of transit flights across its network. In a move that mirrors the Emirates announcement, passengers will be able to book to fly through the Abu Dhabi hub to destinations in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.
European Destinations include;
· Amsterdam
· Barcelona
· Brussels
· Dublin
· Frankfurt
· Geneva
· London Heathrow
· Madrid
· Milan
· Paris (CDG)
· Zurich
Asia Pacific Destinations include;
· Manila
· Melbourne
· Seoul
· Singapore
· Sydney
· Tokyo
It is important to note that passenger restrictions in line with local authorities still apply. Source - etihad.com
Qatar Airways – Having announced several redundancies in April & May, the airline continues to make service changes across its operations. The airline has recently announced that it would donate 100,000 return tickets to healthcare workers across the world as a gesture of good will in an effort to increase its PR profile after several weeks of bad press which include the leaking of a story where one of its pilots was sacked and asked to repay over €100,000 worth of flight training costs. The airline has one of the healthier flight networks, having been one of the last airlines to introduce flight restrictions on its network. It is currently operating flights across 59 destinations. It has also introduced an “unlimited rebooking policy” on any flights booked from May 14th in a further bid to restore customer confidence.
WizzAir Hungary & Abu Dhabi – Expansion seems to be the word of the year at the Budapest based carrier. Having announced 1000 redundancies in April, the airline has bounced back with some of the most exciting expansion plans of any carrier in several years.
The airline having already announced its plans to start services from Abu Dhabi, has gone to announce the doubling of aircraft allocation in its first Middle Eastern Base from 3 to 6. The airline has also announced several new bases in Europe in the last few weeks. Kiev – Ukraine, Larnaca – Cyprus, Milan Malpensa – Italy, Salzburg – Austria, Vienna – Austria have all been recently confirmed as new WizzAir bases. With operations scheduled to start as early as July first for Larnaca and Salzburg. The airline has also announced over 55 new routes in July across its network in a move that is set to create numerous job opportunities across Europe. Source – WizzAir.com
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