LONDON/SYDNEY (Reuters) – Britain is banning immediate passenger flights from the United Arab Emirates from Friday, shutting down the world’s busiest intercontinental airline route from Dubai to London.
Britain said it was incorporating the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda to its coronavirus vacation ban checklist since of problems above the unfold of a far more contagious and most likely vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa.
“This implies individuals who have been in or transited by way of these countries will be denied entry, besides British, Irish and third place nationals with residence legal rights who will have to self-isolate for 10 days at home,” U.K. Transportation Minister Grant Shapps mentioned on Twitter on Thursday.
On its internet site, Emirates mentioned it would suspend all U.K. passenger flights from 1300 GMT, when the ban can take impact. Etihad Airways explained it would only suspend flights to Britain, with individuals from the U.K. remaining unaffected.
In a statement, Dubai airport encouraged people booked on flights because of to get there in Britain following the ban not to go to the airport and in its place get in touch with their airline.
Britain’s transport division encouraged nationals now in the UAE to use indirect professional routes to fly back again to Britain.
Border closures triggered by COVID-19 produced Dubai to London the world’s busiest intercontinental route in January, with 190,365 scheduled seats more than the month, airline knowledge company OAG claimed.
Emirates and Etihad typically carry huge numbers of travellers connecting from Britain to places like Australia by way of their airport hubs, this means the conclusion to terminate those flights will have far-reaching implications.
The Australian govt reported it will add more charter flights from Britain if necessary as a end result of the Emirates and Etihad cancellations.
Eran Ben-Avraham, an Australian stranded in Britain due to strict boundaries on the range of arrivals in Australia, mentioned his choices for acquiring property were continually shrinking.
“At the instant it is only supplying us 3 possibilities of traveling Qatar, ANA or Singapore Airlines,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Company. “Every day it is making it a lot more difficult to get house. The flights back again are everywhere from like 4,000 kilos ($5,487).”
(This story corrects paragraph 1 to exhibit ban handles flights “from” United Arab Emirates not “to and from”, fixes grammar in paragraph 4)
Reporting by William James in London and Jamie Freed in Sydney further reporting by Melanie Burton in Melbourne, Alexander Cornwell in Dubai Modifying by William Schomberg, Karishma Singh and Jane Wardell
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