Emirates Has Restarted Flights To 5 African Destinations

Flights from Africa’s busiest airports have been grounded since a spike of Omicron infections prompted an international embargo. Earlier this month, Emirates announced that it would begin daily passenger flights to Johannesburg.

Passengers arriving and transiting Dubai must meet the following travel protocol:

• Passenger travelling from Guinea (CKY), Uganda (EBB) or Ghana (ACC) with final destination DXB requires 48 hours PCR and 06 hours Rapid PCR and PCR on arrival in DXB.
• Passengers travelling from Guinea (CKY), Uganda (EBB), Ghana (ACC) and Cote d’Ivoire (ABJ) and transiting DXB are only required to follow final destination rules (i.e., no 48 hours PCR or no 6 hours PCR unless it is mandated by the final destination).
• Passengers travelling from Angola (LAD) or Cote d’Ivoire (ABJ) and inbound DXB are required to have 72 hours PCR and PCR on arrival in DXB.
• Passengers travelling from Angola (LAD) and transiting DXB are only required to have 72 hours PCR.
• Passengers travelling from CKY – DSS must follow final destination rules. (That means no 48-hours PCR or six-hour PCR unless it is mandated by the final destination.)
• Passengers accepted for travel under the travel protocol must present a valid negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate with a QR code for a test conducted at an approved facility within the stipulated hours of departure, test validity must be calculated from the time the sample was collected.
• Passengers who are required to undergo the COVID-19 PCR test on arrival and must remain in self-quarantine until they receive the test result.

UAE Nationals and children under the age of 12 are exempt.

Outbound travellers will be unable to travel from Johannesburg because of current restrictions. African countries and several sectors of the aviation industry have criticised the blanket prohibition imposed by countries, although some analysts think it could be due to inaccurate testing, which results in a disproportionately higher number of positive cases intercepted at the point of entry.

Source: Gulf News