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The first passenger flights from six countries that were on a restricted list were due to touch down in Dubai on Thursday, as thousands of UAE residents looked to get home after months stuck abroad.
Flights from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Peshawar and Karachi were among those scheduled to land at the country's busiest airport.
On Tuesday, Emirati officials said UAE residents in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Nigeria and Uganda could apply to return.
Expats who were abroad when restrictions were imposed, largely due to the Delta variant outbreak in their home countries in April and May, scrambled to apply for permission from the UAE's ICA and GDRFA immigration authorities and catch the first flights home.
It was not clear how many managed to get permission within the first 24 hours - and airlines could not say how full their planes were expected to be on Thursday - but at least a dozen were advertised as set to fly.
Fully vaccinated UAE visa holders are eligible, as long as they received the vaccine from clinics in the UAE. In addition, unvaccinated residents can return if they are school pupils, teachers, university students, lecturers, medical workers, and people who work for federal and local government.
Teacher to return as new term approaches
Kanak Raju, a teacher at Delhi Private School Dubai, flew to Chennai in Tamil Nadu in July with his wife and daughters, who are 13 and 11.
He had to travel because of a family emergency and knew he could not return until the authorities lifted restrictions.
"My brother died last year and I had to return home for some important rituals. I knew it would be difficult to travel back but this was something I could not postpone," Mr Raju told The National.
He is due to fly home to Dubai on August 22 - in time to make the start of school term on August 29.
He was sympathetic to fellow travellers who have been stuck in India since April 24, when the UAE banned most passengers, except for diplomatic staff, Emiratis and people with golden visas.
"People have been stuck here for months,” he said.
"There are some pupils and nearly 76 teachers and staff members from our school stuck in India.”
To return, UAE residents must apply for permission to travel a portal run by the federal immigration authority ICA.
It emerged on Wednesday that Dubai residents must also apply, separately, to the General Department Residency Foreign Affairs (GDRFA), Dubai's own immigration department.
Emirates, which has operated services from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka for a handful of exempt passengers in recent months, scheduled a dozen or so flights on the first day of restrictions being lifted.
Other airlines sought to schedule flights, selling tickets through local travel agents and leading to one-way ticket prices rising from about Dh1,000 to about Dh2,000 in some cases.
These included two flights from Chennai, leaving at 4am and 9.50am, and three flights from Mumbai to DXB at 4.30am, 10.10am and 7.20pm. Two flights from Delhi were listed as departing at 11am and 4.15pm on Thursday.
Other Emirates flights from Pakistan are available from Karachi and Peshawar to Dubai on Thursday. One flight leaves Karachi at 3.25am and another at 12.20pm, while a flight from Peshawar is available from 9am, landing in Dubai at 11.20am.
Flights from Sri Lanka are also available with Emirates. Those looking to return to Dubai can book on the 10.05am flight from Colombo on Thursday, or the 3.15am flight on Friday, August 6 arriving at 6am.
Etihad said: "As some restrictions will ease from August 5, we are working to resume flights as soon as possible for eligible guests to travel to the UAE and for transit."
MATCH INFO
What: 2006 World Cup quarter-final
When: July 1
Where: Gelsenkirchen Stadium, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
Result:
England 0 Portugal 0
(Portugal win 3-1 on penalties)
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20myZoi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202021%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Syed%20Ali%2C%20Christian%20Buchholz%2C%20Shanawaz%20Rouf%2C%20Arsalan%20Siddiqui%2C%20Nabid%20Hassan%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ENumber%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2037%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Initial%20undisclosed%20funding%20from%20SC%20Ventures%3B%20second%20round%20of%20funding%20totalling%20%2414%20million%20from%20a%20consortium%20of%20SBI%2C%20a%20Japanese%20VC%20firm%2C%20and%20SC%20Venture%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
First Person
Richard Flanagan
Chatto & Windus
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
Safety 'top priority' for rival hyperloop company
The chief operating officer of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Andres de Leon, said his company's hyperloop technology is “ready” and safe.
He said the company prioritised safety throughout its development and, last year, Munich Re, one of the world's largest reinsurance companies, announced it was ready to insure their technology.
“Our levitation, propulsion, and vacuum technology have all been developed [...] over several decades and have been deployed and tested at full scale,” he said in a statement to The National.
“Only once the system has been certified and approved will it move people,” he said.
HyperloopTT has begun designing and engineering processes for its Abu Dhabi projects and hopes to break ground soon.
With no delivery date yet announced, Mr de Leon said timelines had to be considered carefully, as government approval, permits, and regulations could create necessary delays.
About RuPay
A homegrown card payment scheme launched by the National Payments Corporation of India and backed by the Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank
RuPay process payments between banks and merchants for purchases made with credit or debit cards
It has grown rapidly in India and competes with global payment network firms like MasterCard and Visa.
In India, it can be used at ATMs, for online payments and variations of the card can be used to pay for bus, metro charges, road toll payments
The name blends two words rupee and payment
Some advantages of the network include lower processing fees and transaction costs
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
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Ferrari 12Cilindri specs
Engine: naturally aspirated 6.5-liter V12
Power: 819hp
Torque: 678Nm at 7,250rpm
Price: From Dh1,700,000
Available: Now
Who has lived at The Bishops Avenue?
- George Sainsbury of the supermarket dynasty, sugar magnate William Park Lyle and actress Dame Gracie Fields were residents in the 1930s when the street was only known as ‘Millionaires’ Row’.
- Then came the international super rich, including the last king of Greece, Constantine II, the Sultan of Brunei and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal who was at one point ranked the third richest person in the world.
- Turkish tycoon Halis Torprak sold his mansion for £50m in 2008 after spending just two days there. The House of Saud sold 10 properties on the road in 2013 for almost £80m.
- Other residents have included Iraqi businessman Nemir Kirdar, singer Ariana Grande, holiday camp impresario Sir Billy Butlin, businessman Asil Nadir, Paul McCartney’s former wife Heather Mills.
Hunting park to luxury living
- Land was originally the Bishop of London's hunting park, hence the name
- The road was laid out in the mid 19th Century, meandering through woodland and farmland
- Its earliest houses at the turn of the 20th Century were substantial detached properties with extensive grounds
