Emirates and Etihad airways have stopped flying to the United Kingdom from 13:00 today (29th January,2021), following the addition of UAE to the UK government’s ‘red list’ of banned destinations.
From 13:00 today (29th January,2021), entry into the United Kingdom is banned for passengers who have been in or transited through UAE, Rwanda and Burundi in the last 10 days.
While the ban does not apply to British and Irish nationals, or third-country nationals with residence rights in the UK, exempted travellers will find it difficult to travel to the UK from the UAE from today, with both Emirates and Etihad suspending all passenger flights.
“The decision to ban travel from these destinations follows the discovery of a new coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa that may have spread to other countries, including the UAE, Burundi, and Rwanda.”
stated a media statement from UK’s Department for Transport.
It takes the number of countries on the UK’s red list to 33. The bulk of those countries are located either in Africa or South America.
Travellers who are exempted from the UK travel ban are still permitted to fly, but must self-isolate for 10 days at home. Passengers returning from these countries cannot be released from self-isolation through the Test to Release program.
The last flights from Emirates that departed from Dubai headed for UK are:
- EK07 from Dubai to London Heathrow
- EK01 from Dubai to London Heathrow
- EK39 from Dubai to Birmingham
- EK27 from Dubai to Glasgow
And the last flights that departed from UK to Dubai are:
- EK08 to Dubai from London Heathrow
- EK02 to Dubai from London Heathrow
- EK40 to Dubai from Birmingham
- EK28 to Dubai from Glasgow
Meanwhile Etihad states simply that “From 1pm (GMT) on January 29, all flights to the UK will be suspended”.
The addition of these 3 countries to the ‘red list’ comes along with the addition of other destinations to the list including several South American countries as well as Portugal.