Emirates airline to resume flights to five African countries from Saturday

Emirates airline will resume flights between Dubai and five African countries from Saturday.

The news follows the announcement that the UAE would lift restrictions on flights to 12 African nations that were put in place after the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19.

The routes being reinstated from Saturday include Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Dar Esl Salaam, Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya; Harare, Zimbabwe; and Emirates’s three South African routes to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

South Africa

Flights between Dubai and South Africa will operate daily to and from Johannesburg on Saturday, departing at 4.40am, and twice-daily from Tuesday, with the second leaving Dubai at 10.05am.

Flights to and from Cape Town and Durban will operate daily from Tuesday. The Dubai to Cape Town route will depart at 3.55am, while the Durban flight will leave at 10.35am.

Kenya

Emirates will operate 10 weekly flights to Nairobi from Saturday. EK 719 will operate on Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and Friday, taking off from Dubai at 9.35am, while flight EK 721 will fly on Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, leaving Dubai at 2.10am.

Ethiopia

Flights to Addis Ababa will operate daily from Sunday, taking off at 9.25am. The return leg will leave Addis Ababa at 3.05pm local time, arriving in Dubai at 8.15pm.

Tanzania

Emirates will fly to Dar Es Salaam five time a week from Sunday. EK 725 will take off from Dubai at 9.30am. The airline is yet to confirm which days this flight will operate.

Zimbabwe

Emirates will operate to Harare with six weekly flights linked to its Lusaka service from Sunday. EK 713 will leave Dubai at 9.28am, with a stop in Lusaka, and arrive in Harare at 5pm. The return leg will leave Harare at 6.45pm, stopping in Lusaka, and continuing on to Dubai.

All passengers travelling from Emirates’ African network with Dubai as their final destination require a negative Covid-19 result from a PCR test taken within 48 hours. Passengers must present a valid negative certificate with a QR code from a test conducted at an approved facility, and validity must be calculated from the time the sample was collected.

Upon arrival in Dubai, passengers will undergo an additional Covid-19 PCR test and will remain in self-quarantine until the results of the test are received.

Passengers travelling from these destinations and transiting Dubai are required to follow the rules and requirements of their final destination.