Emirates expands African network to 15 destinations

Emirates’ African network will be boosted to 15 destinations when Luanda, Angola restarts on October 1, 2020, the UAE-based airline said in a statement. 

The statement says Emirates’ gradual and safe restoration of its network is guided by growing demand in passenger flights across the globe. Flights to Luanda will initially operate once a week on Thursdays.

“Emirates flight EK793 will depart Dubai at 0945hrs, arriving in Luanda at 1430hrs,” reads the statement. “EK794 will depart Luanda at 1825hrs, arriving in Dubai at 0510hrs the next day.”

Booking of tickets can be done on emirates.com, the Emirates App, Emirates sales offices, via travel agents as well as online travel agents. The UAE flag carrier airline says its customers can stopover or travel to Dubai as the city has re-opened for international business and leisure visitors.

To ensure the safety of travelers, visitors, and the community, Covid-19 PCR tests have been made mandatory for all inbound and transit passengers arriving to Dubai (and the UAE), including UAE citizens, residents and tourists, irrespective of the country they are coming from.

The airline says it is covering Covid-19-related medical expenses for customers, should they be diagnosed with the respiratory illness during their travel while they are away from home.

“This cover is immediately effective for customers flying on Emirates until 31 October 2020 (first flight to be completed on or before 31 October 2020), and is valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey,” reads the statement.

“This means Emirates customers can continue to benefit from the added assurance of this cover, even if they travel onwards to another city after arriving at their Emirates destination.”

The airline has also implemented a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the customer journey to ensure the safety of its customers and employees on the ground and in the air, including the distribution of complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes to all customers.

In Uganda, passenger flights are still banned apart from special cases like repatriating Ugandans who had been stranded abroad due to the Covid-19 lockdown.