UK Bans Direct Flights From UAE, Shutting World's Busiest International Route

From Friday Britain is banning direct passenger flights to and from the United Arab Emirates; in that case world’s busiest international airline route from Dubai to London is shutting down.

Britain said it had been incorporating the United Arab Emirates, Burundi and Rwanda to its coronavirus travel ban list because of worries over the spread of a much more infectious and potentially vaccine-resistant COVID-19 variant initially identified in South Africa.

"This means people who have been in or transited through these countries will be denied entry, except British, Irish and third-country nationals with residence rights who must self-isolate for ten days at home," U.K. Transport Minister Grant Shapps said on Twitter on Thursday.

The Australian government said it will include more Charter flights out of Britain if wanted as a consequence of the Emirates and Etihad cancellations.

Emirates and Etihad Airways stated on their Sites They'd suspend all U.K. passenger flights out of 1300 GMT on Friday if the ban takes effect.

Dubai airport, in a statement, advised passengers booked on flights due to arrive in the U.K. after the ban comes into effect to not go to the airport and instead contact their airline.

The U.K. transport department advised British nationals currently in the United Arab Emirates to make use of indirect commercial airline routes if they wished to return to Britain.

Due to border closures caused by COVID-19, Dubai to London was the world's busiest international route in January with 190,365 scheduled seats over the month, according to airline data provider OAG.

Emirates and Etihad generally carry substantial amounts of Passengers linking from Britain to destinations such as Australia throughout their airport hubs, meaning that the choice to cancel those flights will probably possess far-reaching consequences.

The Australian government said it will add more charter flights from Britain if needed as a result of the Emirates and Etihad cancellations.

As a result of stringent limitations on the number of arrivals in Australia, stated his choices for accessing home were continuously decreasing.

"At the moment it is only giving us three options of flying Qatar, ANA or Singapore Airlines," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "Every day it is making it more difficult to get home. The flights back are anywhere from like 4,000 pounds ($5,487)."