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Transportation Secretary Grant Shapps has banned all passenger flights from the United Arab Emirates. The Department for Transport said the aim was “to prevent the spread of the new variant originally identified in South Africa in the UK.”
Both Emirates and Etihad, based in Dubai and Abu Dhabi respectively, are typically used by thousands of British passengers every day, whether they are traveling between the UK and the UAE or connecting in Gulf hubs to and from destinations. long distance.
Dubai alone typically attracts over a million visitors from the UK each year, and many more in transit through the airport.
British residents have been told to look for alternative routes home. Upon their return to the UK, they will not face hotel quarantine today because the government has yet to implement mandatory self-isolation. Instead, they will be asked to stay home with other household members for 10 days.
Mike Sweet from Penarth in South Wales said The independent: “My 17-year-old son Alexander has been in Australia since early December to see his mother and siblings whom he hadn’t seen in over a year.”
Alexander Sweet traveled according to the current rules. In early December, there were no restrictions on outbound travel from the UK.
Her father said: “He lives with me in Wales and is still in school. He has been working remotely in Sydney, as best he can with an 11 hour time difference, but he has final exams in May and needs to go back to study in the same time zone as his teachers.
“Now that you cannot return to the UK with your Emirates ticket via Dubai, we are in a very difficult situation.
“Probably the only option will be to buy a new ticket with a transit stop that will not be on the travel list, but who knows what rules the UK government will introduce next?
“General bans like this cause enormous problems for ordinary people, British citizens, with valid reasons to travel.”
Doug maclean tweeted: “This is completely crazy. Adding countries to a red list starting today.
“My son-in-law arrives in Glasgow today from Dubai. This is the life of real people and totally absurd. “
Emirates flights from Dubai to Glasgow and Birmingham arrived before noon.
The final arrival, British Airways flight BA104 from Dubai to London Heathrow, took off half an hour late from the center of the Gulf. He made time en route and landed at 12:58 p.m., just two minutes before the stipulated time for arrivals from the United Arab Emirates to end.
Two other Emirates flights on the same route landed earlier, as well as an Etihad service from Abu Dhabi.
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