Three prominent Middle East airlines, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and Emirates have announced plans to resume flights to a number of well-known destinations. Etihad will restart seasonal flights to Greece’s most popular islands, Mykonos and Santorini, and the famous southern Spanish city of Malaga in Andalusia.
Mykonos will operate between 8 July and 11 September and Santorini between 9 July and 12 September. Both destinations will benefit from a twice weekly direct service on an Airbus A320. With a safe travel corridor established between the UAE and Greece, fully vaccinated individuals now have more opportunities to enjoy quarantine free travel. Just over four hours from Abu Dhabi, Etihad’s new flights to the Greek islands complement the airline’s existing service to Athens.
As Spain prepares to reopen to international vaccinated travellers Etihad will launch new, twice weekly flights to Malaga, between 9 July and 15 September. Flights to Malaga will operate using a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, offering Economy Space and Neighbour-free seating options.
The new service will provide greater choice and convenience for leisure travellers between the UAE and Spain, with Etihad now serving three destinations between the two countries: namely, Barcelona, Madrid and Malaga.
Meanwhile, Qatar Airways is to resume four weekly flights to the famed holiday destination of Phuket, Thailand (pictured above) starting 1 July. In addition to its 12 weekly Bangkok flights, the airline will operate a total of 16 weekly flights to Thailand, providing seamless connectivity for its passengers travelling from Europe, the Middle East and United States.
Launched in 2010, Phuket became Qatar Airways’ 93rd destination at the time. The route will be served by the airline’s modern and sustainable Boeing 787 Dreamliner with seating for 22 passengers in Business Class and 232 in Economy Class.
And finally, Emirates has made public its plans for three weekly services to Malta via Larnaca, Cyprus, commencing 14 July, further expanding its European network to 34 destinations, and offering customers worldwide more travel choices and enhanced connectivity via Dubai.
With a successful vaccination programme and an overall decrease in daily Covid-19 cases in the country, Malta officially welcomed UAE tourists back to the Maltese Islands on 1 June. Flights to/from Malta will operate three times weekly through the airline’s existing Larnaca service on its two-class Boeing 777-200LR, offering 42 lie-flat seats in business and 386 ergonomically designed seats in economy class.
Another destination that Emirates is revisiting is Venice; flights to there from Dubai will recommence at the start of July, initially with three flights a week on the route. The UAE airline will also increase services to Milan from eight to 10 weekly flights in July. This will comprise of a daily service on the Dubai-Milan-New York JFK route, plus three times-weekly return flights 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. Emirates will serve Venice, Milan, Rome and Bologna with its modern and comfortable widebody Boeing 777-300ER aircraft.
Last month, Emirates was voted Best Airline Worldwide for the eighth consecutive time at the Business Traveller Middle East Awards 2021. The airline also took home accolades for Airline with the Best First Class and Airline with Best Economy Class.
