After more than a year of being grounded, flights are slowly resuming as countries ease border restrictions and more people around the world get vaccinated.
With the UAE's long, hot summer stretching in front of us, many people are dreaming of a change of scenery filled with fresh air and a chance to reconnect with nature, visit friends and family, or simply enjoy the luxury of being able to go on holiday.
With a long break expected for the Eid Al Adha holiday, plus the school summer holidays rapidly approaching, travel is on the minds of many UAE citizens and residents.
This week, Spain and France are preparing to welcome back tourists after being closed owing to the Covid-19 pandemic. To coincide with the reopening, Emirates said it will increase its flight schedule to both destinations as demand for travel increases.
Scroll through the gallery above to see the 19 destinations you can travel to quarantine-free from Dubai
The Dubai airline is currently flying five times per week to Madrid, and offers four flights weekly to Barcelona. It will also begin daily flights to Mexico City via Barcelona from July 2. This will give travellers eight flights per week to the Catalonian capital.
To France, Emirates operates a daily A380 flight to Paris, with more flights set to be added soon.
The 19 destinations travellers can fly to quarantine-free with Emirates
- Cyprus
- Greece
- Italy
- Russia
- Turkey
- Spain
- France (from June 9)
- Jordan
- Lebanon
- Bahrain
- Egypt
- Maldives
- Seychelles
- Phuket (from July 2)
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- Morocco (update - quarantine-required from June 15)
- United States
- Mexico (from July 2)
Emirates said it will continue to ramp up its operations as demand returns and support the jump-start of tourism across its network as more travel corridors open, benefiting holidaymakers with quarantine-free travel at both ends of their journey.
The airline previously announced it was restarting services to Phuket in Thailand from July 2, and to Miami from July 22.
280 weekly flights to 19 countries
The Dubai airline is now operating flights to 30 cities across 19 countries that are open for leisure and business travellers.
With the addition of its newest routes in July, Emirates will be operating 280 weekly flights from Dubai to destinations in Europe, the US, the Middle East and Africa. This gives travellers many options for travelling this summer without the hassle, cost or stress of quarantine. Some destinations on the list are only open without quarantine for vaccinated travellers, but others are open to all UAE citizens and residents.
Travellers returning to Dubai do not need to quarantine, however any travellers continuing to Abu Dhabi must follow the rules surrounding the Green List, unless they're returning via a vaccine corridor.
All Emirates flights to be Iata Travel Pass-equipped by July
Emirates is also planning to scale up its Iata Travel Pass capabilities on flights over the coming weeks.
The digital pass initiative from the International Air Transport Association allows travellers to register their personal details, find out Covid-related testing requirements for their destination and share pre-departure Covid-19 test results with airlines ahead of flying.
Passengers on Emirates will be able to use the app on flights to Barcelona, Moscow, Istanbul, New York JFK, Madrid and from London Heathrow this month. The airline also plans to make all flights Iata Travel Pass compatible by July. In the future, it's hoped that the pass will be used to house vaccination records to help facilitate easier travel between countries.
In partnership with the Dubai Health Authority, Emirates is also offering passengers paperless verification of Covid-19-related medical records when flying from Dubai.
