( Mar. 23, 2020) - Emirates, the state owned airline of the United Arab Emirates, has stepped back plans to suspended all passenger operations, instead announced to suspend “most” flight operations effective Wednesday (25th March 2020) due to pressure from governments and customers to support repatriation of travellers during the COVID-19 Crisis. The airline will continue to operate 13 out of 159 flights, flying to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Australia, South Africa, the United States and Canada.
Emirates has confirmed that Cargo operations will continue as planned, and is not affected by its announcement to suspend most of its passenger flights. The company has stated, “The situation remains dynamic, and travellers can check flight status on emirates.com.”
Emirates is not the first airline to temporarily suspend passenger operations, airlines such as Ryanair, Jetstar Asia, SAS and LOT Polish have earlier announced total service suspensions, or have announced planned service suspensions. The effect of Emirates suspending most
operations will put a significant dent in global passenger numbers due to the sheer size of the airline. Emirates has 220 airplanes in service of which is 1 Airbus A319, 80 Airbus A380s and 139 Boeing 777s, making the airline the largest operator of the super jumbo.