Dubai’s Emirates suspends passenger services from Pakistan

Dubai carrier Emirates has temporarily suspended passenger services from Pakistan effective June 24.

The directive comes in the aftermath of a few Covid-19 cases detected among Emirates’ passengers who travelled to Hong Kong.

“Following the announcement of positive Covid-19 cases in Hong Kong relating to certain passengers who travelled on our flights, Emirates has taken the decision to temporarily suspend passenger services from Pakistan, from June 24 04:00 Pakistan LT [local time]. We are co-ordinating closely with the various authorities and will review and implement any required additional measures to satisfy all parties before we resume services from Pakistan,” an Emirates spokesperson said in a statement.

“The health and safety of our crew, customers and communities remains our top priority. Emirates has put in place a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the customer journey on the ground and in the air, to minimise the risk of infection spread. More information on these measures can be found on: www.emirates.com/yoursafety.”

“We remain committed to serving our customers in Pakistan and are working hard to resume services as soon as possible. In the meantime Emirates will continue to operate repatriation flights into Pakistan as per the announced schedule, and operate cargo services that support the trade and movement of goods between Pakistan, UAE and our global network,” the airline added.

Emirates, which currently connects Dubai to 40 cities, plans to restart flying Airbus SE A380 superjumbos to London and Paris from next month.

Read: Emirates to resume flying A380 superjumbos to London, Paris

Earlier this month, Emirates president Tim Clark said that as airlines across the world resume services, the option of leaving middle seats vacant to fulfill the requirements of social distancing is neither economically viable nor sustainable.

Read: Airlines cannot operate with empty middle seats – Emirates’ Tim Clark

Also read: Next few weeks to be a ‘big test’ for aviation industry – Emirates’ Sheikh Ahmed