Flydubai resumes flights to 24 cities and aims to reach 66 destinations by end of summer

Destinations include Georgia, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Egypt and Ethiopia with the first flight set for Kabul

'We are getting ready to welcome you back onboard' says Flydubai after UAE authorities announced some travel would be allowed from June 23, 2020.

The low-cost Dubai airline resumed flights on July 7 to 24 destinations.

Travellers will be welcomed back on board with enhanced hygiene and safety measures in place.

All Flydubai jets will be sterilised on a daily basis to ensure traveller safety. Courtesy Flydubai

Crew and passengers must wear personal protective equipment on Flydubai flights.

Parked jets have been carefully maintained in preparation for their imminent return to service.

Flydubai engineers are working around the clock to perform scheduled aircraft maintenance tasks ahead of the airline's return to service.

While passenger flights have been grounded, Flydubai has been busy transporting 3,704,991kg of cargo on 657 flights.

Flydubai has announced new flights to 24 destinations, with the first set to depart Dubai on Tuesday, July 7.

Travellers can book flights from today to several countries across Europe, Asia and Africa, including Georgia, Lebanon, Bulgaria, Egypt and Ethiopia. The airline's first commercial flight scheduled to depart Dubai when services resume will fly to Kabul, Afghanistan.

Flydubai plans to increase the number of destinations that it flies to over the summer months.

“We are initially planning to operate to 24 destinations and we will continuously add destinations and flight frequencies to the network and we expect this to increase to 66 destinations over the course of the summer," said Hamad Obaidalla, chief commercial officer of flydubai.

"This, of course, will be dependent on countries being able to open up and accept international travel," he added.

Travellers are advised to check the requirements of their destination country before booking a flight. The International Air Transport Association's free interactive map is a useful tool for finding out what travel restrictions are in place and where.

Flydubai will fly to these destinations:

• Addis Ababa
• Alexandria
• Almaty
• Amman
• Baku
• Beirut
• Belgrade
• Bucharest
• Dubrovnik
• Esfahan
• Juba
• Kabul
• Khartoum
• Kiev
• Krakow
• Lar
• Nur-Sultan
• Prague
• Sarajevo
• Shiraz
• Sofia
• Tbilisi
• Tehran
• Yerevan

All scheduled flydubai flights remain subject to government approval. Travellers booking on any of these flights can expect service to be a little different. Flydubai has introduced several new measures in an effort to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

These include compulsory face masks for all passengers and earlier arrival at the departure airport to allow time for thermal screening processes. Cabin crew will wear full personal protective equipment, including gloves, long-sleeved aprons, visors and face masks on all flydubai flights.

The airline has said it is entering into a partnership with passengers. As part of this, it asks travellers to be responsible and is allowing travellers more flexibility when it comes to changing tickets. Every passenger will also recieve a complimentary snack or meal on flights.

Easing of travel restrictions

Travel restrictions in Dubai have eased with people now allowed to fly to any country that flights are operating to and where travellers are  accepted. Tourists will be able to fly into Dubai from Tuesday, July 7.

Emirates is currently flying to to 40 destinations to, through and from Dubai. These include flights to and from Istanbul, Auckland, Beirut, Brussels, Barcelona and Washington DC. Emirates is set to announce more network updates soon, in light of Dubai's easing of travel restrictions. The Dubai airline is also bringing its famed A380 back into service on flights to Paris and London.

There have been no updates on travel restrictions being eased in Abu Dhabi. Etihad, the national airline of the UAE, continues to fly transfer services via the capital. The airline is currently flying to 20 destinations including New York, Dublin, Manila and Jakarta. It will add nine more cities to its network in early July, and hopes to add more flights from Thursday, July 16.

"We hope to increase our destinations from 16 July, and continue to work closely with the UAE Government and Global Aviation Authorities to ensure we keep you connected the best we can," details the airline's latest update.