Etihad Airways is set to launch new summer routes to two of Greece's most popular islands, Mykonos and Santorini, as well as to Malaga in Spain.
The route to Mykonos will start on Thursday, and operate twice weekly until September 11, while Santorini flights will begin on Friday, and run until September 12, also two times a week.
A safe travel corridor between the UAE and Greece opened for fully vaccinated travellers in May. Under the agreement, passengers holding vaccination certificates issued by health authorities can now travel to Greece without having to quarantine on arrival. The same rule applies for travellers flying from Greece to the UAE.
Travellers still need to abide by Covid-19 precautionary measures in place in both destinations.
With a flight time of a little more than four hours from Abu Dhabi, Etihad's new flights to the Greek islands add to the airline's existing service to Athens.
Read our full guide for travel to Greece here
All travellers flying to Greece must fill in a Passenger Locator Form at least 24 hours before entering the country. This should include the address that travellers will stay at when in Greece. If you're planning to visit more than one destination, you must complete accurate address information for at least the first 24 hours of your visit. Passengers will receive confirmation that they have completed the form on time, inclusive of a QR code that must be presented when checking in for flights.
Travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19 will not need to take a PCR test to fly to Greece unless the airline requests it. However, they must have documentation proving that they have completed the vaccination process at least 14 days prior to arrival in Greece.
Other travellers can show a negative Covid-19 test result for a test taken no more than 72 hours before arriving in Greece. Children under 5 are exempt from testing.
The new route to Malaga comes as Spain reopens to international vaccinated travellers from Monday. From this Friday to September 15, the flight will operate twice weekly via a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner.
Tourists will be able to enter Spain if they have been fully vaccinated at least 14 days before the date of travel, or they can present their Covid-19 PCR tests taken 48 hours prior to arrival.
Travellers will need to physically provide their vaccination certificates upon arrival, and must have received vaccines authorised by the European Medicines Agency, or one of the vaccines included in the WHO's Emergency Use Listing, such as Pfizer BioNTech, Sinopharm and Oxford/AstraZeneca.
Unvaccinated children under the age of 6 will be allowed entry together with their vaccinated parents. Older children must present a negative PCR test. International passengers must also complete the Health Control Form online prior to arrival.
