Aviation Business News

Middle Eastern airlines resume passenger flights as covid-19 spread slows

covid-19, Etihad, Medicus AI

Middle Eastern airlines, including Qatar, Ethiad and Emirates have been increasing the amount of flights and safety tools for passengers on offer as the global covid-19 pandemic starts to ease.

Etihad Airways has partnered with Medicus AI to launch a covid-19 risk assessment tool that will help guests make informed decisions about travelling.

The tool will guide the airline’s passengers in evaluating the probability of having contracted the virus by responding to a set of 22 questions. The self-administered assessment, which takes less than five minutes to complete, is based on World Health Organisation (WHO) guidelines.

It will allow guests to understand their individual probability of having contracted the virus alongside advisories and recommendations.

Etihad Airways chief digital officer, Frank Meyer, said: “We know that health and wellbeing will be a major factor impacting the travel decisions of our guests and are committed to ensuring their continued safety and peace of mind when they choose to travel with Etihad Airways. As flying operations begin to resume globally, we want to empower our guests to make informed decisions on travel.

Partnering with Medicus AI on this innovative new tool is just one of the ways we are adapting our operations and guest experience to meet the new demands placed on the travel industry as a result of Covid-19.

The tool is available to guests on Etihad.com and soon on the mobile applications on Apple IOS, Android and Huawei. It will be accessible in English with additional language editions such as Arabic, French, German and Portuguese being added in phases.

Qatar Airways meanwhile has begun to rebuild its network, with three weekly flights resuming to Budapest and Dar es Salaam while daily flights have begun again to Dhka, Istanbul and New York.

By mid-July, it hopes to build its U.S network to 39 weekly flights, including to destinations such as Boston, Los Angeles and Washington Dulles in addition to increasing the flights to New York’s JFK airport.

This week, the airline also announced three weekly flights to Toronto Pearson International Airport beginning on 4 July 2020. The flights will be operated by an Airbus A350-900 offering 36 seats in business class and 247 seats in economy.

Following suit, Emirates has announced the addition of more cities, bringing the total list of passenger destinations up to 48.

The newly scheduled flights include Khartoum, Amman, Osaka, Narita, Athens, Larnaca and Rome.

The airline has also announced the resumption of Emirates flights for passengers between Glasgow and Dubai International Airport from 15 July following a similar move with Manchester and London Heathrow airports.

From 7 July 2020, customers can also book to fly between destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific and Europe or the Americas, through Dubai, as long as they meet travel and immigration entry requirements of their destination country.

 

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