Emirates will cover passengers’ coronavirus quarantine or medical costs

Emirates will become the first major airline to foot most of the bill for passengers if they get sick with coronavirus, including hotel quarantine costs.

The largest airline in the Middle East will start paying for passengers’ medical and quarantine bills, should a customer become unwell with COVID-19 or be required to fork out thousands of dollars for hotel quarantine.

As part of the mammoth initiative to boost “travel confidence” around the world, Emirates have announced they will cover medical expenses of almost AU$245,000 and quarantine hotel costs of approximately AU$160 per day for 14 days, should passengers be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel. Currently in NSW, return travellers now need to pay around $3000 in hotel quarantine fees, as well as a further $1000 for an additional adult and $500 for an additional child. In Queensland, the new cost for return travellers – which includes accommodation and daily meals – is $2,800 for 1 adult, $3,710 for 2 adults, and $4,620 for 2 adults and 2 children.

“Emirates will cover its passengers for COVID-19 related medical expenses and quarantine costs when they travel on board Emirates, to and from the UAE and around the world, free of charge,” the Emirate’s media office said in a statement.

RELATED: Scott Morrison issues grim warning for future of international travel

Emirates say they will now start footing the bill for most of you mandatory quarantine stay.. Picture: Supplied

RELATED: Follow the latest coronavirus updates

“Emirates has worked hard to put in place measures at every step of the customer journey to mitigate risk of infection, and we have also revamped our booking policies to offer flexibility. “We are now taking it to the next level, by being the first in the industry to offer our customers free global cover for COVID-19 medical expenses and quarantine costs should they incur these costs during their travel. It is an investment on our part, but we are putting our customers first, and we believe they will welcome this initiative.”

Emirates will now cover customers from COVID-19 expenses in a bid to boost travel confidence.

Emirates has announced additional services for passengers Down Under despite a travel ban still in place for Australians since mid-March.

The airline says additional weekly flights will be available from 1 August from Dubai to Sydney, Brisbane and Perth, in an attempt to bring passengers abroad back home.

According to the airline, this cover for COVID-19 related medical expenses and quarantine costs will be offered to customers regardless of class of travel or destination and will take effect immediately until 31 October 2020.

RELATED: Hint when Australia’s international air travel could open again

For Australian residents flying into the country from overseas, the 14 days of mandatory hotel quarantine still applies. Picture: Darren Leigh Roberts.

The offer will be valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey, meaning it will still apply even if they travel onwards to another city after arriving at their Emirates destination.

The announcement came shortly after the United Arab Emirates made testing mandatory for all inbound and transit passengers starting August 1.

According to reports, Emirates president Tim Clark said that it could take up to four years for the airline’s operations to return to “some degree of normality”.

Earlier this week, Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg dropped a big clue in the economic update provided on Thursday about when he expects international air travel to resume and Australia’s borders to reopen.

Mr Frydenberg pointed to a reopening of Australian borders from January 1, 2021, however during an interview with A Current Affair’s Tracy Grimshaw, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that without a vaccine – travel overseas will remain off the cards.

“That will be very challenging,” Mr Morrison said of future travel.

“Right now the opportunity for large-scale travel beyond our borders is not foreseeable.”