British Airways has resumed daily flights from London to Dubai for the first time since January.
From this week the national carrier has also doubled the number of flights from the UK to India from ten to 20.
The moves follow the latest government traffic light review which put the United Arab Emirates and India on the amber travel list and removed them from the red list. The changes, announced on August 4, came into effect on August 8.
The Dubai flights depart London Heathrow at 22.25. They arrive in Dubai the next morning at 8.25 the next morning.
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Sohail Ali, BA’s senior vice president, Middle East and Africa, airport operations, said: “We can’t wait to welcome our customers on board our flights and are delighted to be able to reunite families and friends with their loved ones after such a long time apart.
“The safety of our customers and colleagues has always been at the heart of everything we do. We have introduced a range of measures to provide stress and hassle-free travel.”
The additional flights to India follow the traffic light change and the decision by the Indian government to allow UK carriers to operate extra flights, increasing the weekly cap from 15 to 34 per week.
BA will now operate 20 direct return flights from London across Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad.
Moran Birger, BA’s head of sales for south Asia, Middle East and Africa, said the new flights followed months of travel uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.
He added: “These additional new flights will allow our customers, who have waited so patiently, to reunite with their loved ones in India.”
The airline’s flexible booking policy allows customers to exchange their booking for a voucher or move their dates without an amendment fee.
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