COVID: Australians may be impacted by UK ban on flights from UAE

Emirates and Etihad have suspended flights due to the UK’s sudden ban on travel from the UAE, raising concerns about how Aussies will get home.

Etihad says Australians will still be able to fly home from the UK despite a ban on flights from the United Arab Emirates.

However, fellow Gulf carrier Emirates has suspended all flights between the UK and its Dubai hub, raising concerns Australians stranded overseas have fewer options for getting home.

The changes to flight operations comes after the UK government’s snap ban on all incoming flights from the United Arab Emirates over feats of the South African COVID-19 variant.

The Australian High Commission in London said on Friday it was looking into what this meant for Australians wishing to fly home on UAE-based airlines such as Etihad and Emirates.

Emirates said on Friday it would suspend all flights between Dubai and its UK points at London Heathrow, Birmingham and Glasgow, with the final flights to land before the British government’s flight ban comes into effect at 1pm on Friday, London time.

This means there will be no outgoing flights from the UK to Dubai, which is the hub used by Emirates before continuing onto Australia.

A spokesman for Etihad, which is based at Abu Dhabi, told news.com.au the flight ban won’t impact passengers departing the UK for Australia, with those flights to continue as scheduled.

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#UPDATE: @GOVUK announced a flight ban on direct passenger flights from UAE (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) effective tomorrow 1.00pm.@ausgov working with Emirates and Etihad to understand impact on outbound travel from the UK.

Updates to follow. https://t.co/IxaaBit3BB

— Australia in the UK 🇦🇺🇬🇧 (@AusHouseLondon) January 28, 2021

The new ruling may make it more difficult for Australians to fly home from the UK. Picture: Karim Sahib/AFP

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“Following the latest UK government directives, from 1pm (GMT) on 29 January 2021 all Etihad passenger flights to the UK have been suspended until further notice,” the airline said in a statement.

“Etihad is working closely with impacted guests to notify them of the changes to their itineraries and rearrange travel plans.

Flights departing the UK remain unaffected and will operate as scheduled.”

Comment has been sought from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Federal Tourism Minister Dan Tehan told news.com.au the Australian Government was “doing what we can to assist”.

“The Australian government has provided as much assistance as possible to see Australians return home,” Mr Tehan said on Friday.

“The government has put on additional flights to help Australians return home and will continue to monitor the situation, however, we are doing what we can to assist.”

The ban, announced overnight, also applies to flights from Burundi and Rwanda that have also been added to the UK government’s “red list” of places where travel is banned.

The United Arab Emirates has been added to the UK’s ‘red list’ of banned travel destinations. Picture: Giuseppe Cacace/AFP

Non-citizens from the 33 “red list” countries are restricted from entering the UK.

British and Irish nationals and residents in the UAE, a popular destination for British travellers and expats, are urged to return home on indirect commercial routes that still link it with the UK.

They will need to self-isolate at home for 10 days on arrival.

“The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa, that may have spread to other countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda,” a UK government spokeswoman said.

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Dubai had been a popular, quarantine-free destination for British social media influencers during the pandemic, despite a UK government ban on leisure travel.

The influencers sparked national outrage by taking advantage of a loophole in the rules that allowed for business travel, which meant they were able to holiday in the glitzy Emirate and share photos on social media as part of their work.

Under the UK’s new rule, business travel exemptions to the UAE no longer apply.