Emirates and Etihad Airways, the two largest carriers in the UAE, on Monday announced they would be suspending normal passenger flights from Wednesday.
The suspension of services are related to efforts of the UAE government to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Emirates, which is owned by the emirate of Dubai, announced on Monday evening it would temporarily suspend all passenger services from Wednesday.
Emirates informed affected passengers to complete its travel voucher request form to rebook tickets. The travel vouchers have a validity of 12 months and "Customers with flight bookings for travel on or before 30 June 2020 can rebook their flights to any Emirates destination within the same region without a rebooking fee or paying any fare difference".
Etihad,owned by Abu Dhabi, announced that from Monday "passengers departing from international destinations will only be allowed to travel if they are UAE citizens or diplomatic passport holders, and only if their final destination is Abu Dhabi". From 11.59pm on Wednesday, Etihad would suspend all passenger services for a period of two weeks.
The decisions come as part of a directive from the UAE government, which suspended all flights for a period of two weeks from March 25. Only cargo and emergency evacuation flights are exempt.
The UAE, whose international airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai are major hubs, announced on Friday its first two deaths from the COVID-19 disease, having reported more than 150 cases so far.
As of Monday evening, a total of 198 cases of novel coronavirus have been reported from the UAE. Monday saw 45 cases, the single-highest number in a day, being reported.
