COVID-19: Emirates Airline to cover clients expenses during travel

Emirates Airline will cover all the customer expenses during this period of the Coronavirus pandemic.

This is to help their clients to cover the expenses in the aviation industry, leading initiative to boost travel confidence.

Emirates customers can now travel with confidence, as the airline will cover medical expenses of up to EUR 150,000 and quarantine costs of EUR 100 per day for 14 days.

Should their passengers be diagnosed with COVID-19 during their travel, while they are away from home, this cover will be provided by the airline, free of cost to its customers.

At a time the COVID-19 pandemic has rugged the entire world, the aviation industry was severely hit with many passengers stranded because a couple of international flights were stopped and many airports closed down since March 2020.

Billions of US dollars have been lost by the various airlines companies, import and exporting industries as well as revenue by the respective countries.

On 5 March 2020, the International Air Transport Association estimated that the airline industry could lose between US$63 to 113 billion of revenues due to the reduced number of passengers

The COVID-19 pandemic had an enormous impact on the aviation industry, affecting passenger traffic, air cargo demand, airport workforce and incoming revenues.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Group Chairman and Chief Executive remarked: “Under the directive of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Emirates is proud to lead the way in boosting confidence for international travel. We know people are yearning to fly as borders around the world gradually re-open, but they are seeking flexibility and assurances should something unforeseen happen during their travel. 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.”

These unprecedented times had significant reductions in passenger numbers have resulted in flights being cancelled or planes flying empty between airports, which in turn massively reduced revenues for airlines and forced many airlines to lay off employees or declare bankruptcy.

Some have attempted to avoid refunding cancelled trips in order to diminish their losses. Airliner manufacturers and airport operators have also laid off employees.

According to some commentators, the ensuing crisis is the worst ever encountered in the history of the aviation industry.

Early March 2020 saw 10% of all flights cancelled compared to 2019. As the pandemic progressed, 40–60% fewer flight movements were recorded in late March with international flights affected the most.

By April over 80% flight movements were restricted across all regions.

Research shows that world recovery of passenger demand to pre-COVID-19 levels is estimated to take 2.4 years (recovery by late-2022), with the most optimistic estimate being 2 years (recovery by mid-2022), and the most pessimistic estimate 6 years (recovery in 2026).

As passenger flights were cancelled, the cost of sending cargo by air changed rapidly. The cost of sending cargo across the Pacific Ocean tripled by late March.

Adjusted cargo capacity fell by 4.4% in February while air cargo demand also fell by 9.1%, but the near-halt in passenger traffic cut capacity even deeper as half of global air cargo is carried in passenger jets’ bellies.

Air freight rates rose as a consequence, from $0.80 per kg for transatlantic cargoes to $2.50–4 per kg, enticing passenger airlines to operate cargo-only flights, while cargo airlines bring back into service fuel-guzzling stored aircraft, helped by falling oil prices

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *