Emirates speaks on safety of Ghanaians amidst coronavirus

The current major concern for most Ghanaian travelers is safety in the midst of the current COVID-19 pandemic. What is the update on what Emirates is doing to ensure customer safety?

Emirates has implemented a comprehensive set of measures at every step of the customer journey to ensure the safety of its customers and employees on the ground and in the air, including the distribution of complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitiser and antibacterial wipes to all customers.

All cabin crew on board are fully kitted out in PPEs. To uphold the highest standards of safety and hygiene, Emirates has added a cabin service assistant (CSA) to the crew complement on flights over 1.5 hours to ensure lavatories are cleaned at frequent intervals of every 45 minutes. All aircraft are deep cleaned in Dubai and go through an enhanced cleaning and disinfection process after every trip. Our HEPA filters clean the air every two minutes and take out more than 99.97% of viruses, germs and other microbes to ensure a clean cabin environment.

In October 2020, we launched an integrated biometric path at Dubai International airport (DXB). We also introduced the contactless self-check-in kiosks and the integrated biometric path at the Dubai International Airport terminals. Emirates passengers can check-in for their flight, complete immigration formalities, enter the Emirates Lounge and board their flights, simply by strolling through the airport.

The various touchpoints in the Biometric path allow for a hygienic contactless travel journey, reducing human interaction and putting emphasis on health and safety. We’ve also introduced touchless self check-in kiosks in Dubai further enhancing the smart contactless journey for passengers travelling from Dubai. The kiosks can be controlled completely by personal mobile devices without touching the screens; providing a safe and convenient airport experience, and allow customers to check-in, receive their boarding pass, choose seats on board, and drop off their bags.

We introduced the airline’s industry first, multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover, at no cost to customers. In addition to COVID-19 medical cover, this latest offer also has provisions for personal accidents during travel, winter sports cover, loss of personal belongings, and trip disruptions due to unexpected air space closure, travel recommendations or advisories, similar to other multi-risk travel insurance products.

What is the airline’s protocol for a passenger who begins to show symptoms of COVID-19 mid-flight?

All passengers bound for Dubai from any point of origin must hold a negative COVID-19 PCR test certificate for a test taken no more than 72 hours before departure.

This policy is also in place for passengers transiting through Dubai from over 60 countries, including Ghana. In addition, passengers travelling into Dubai from over 55 countries are required to take another COVID-19 PCR test upon arrival. All of these measures have been put into place to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus onboard and at the airport.

Emirates announced its Covid-19 coverage for its customers late last year. What exactly does the coverage entail, and how long will customers benefit from this?

We were the first airline in the industry to lead the way and offer customers Covid-19 insurance cover and we can say that this initiative has helped us help our customers travel with more confidence. We took it a step further late last year and introduced the airline’s industry first, multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover. This generous cover is offered by Emirates on all tickets purchased on or from 1 December 2020, at no cost to customers. In addition to COVID-19 medical cover, this latest offer also has provisions for personal accidents during travel, winter sports cover, loss of personal belongings, and trip disruptions due to unexpected air space closure, travel recommendations or advisories, similar to other multi-risk travel insurance products.

We know people are yearning to fly as borders around the world gradually re-open, but they are seeking flexibility and assurances should something unforeseen happen during their travel, and we are seeing demand pick up as customers are more assured to travel.

Due to the widespread impact of the current pandemic on the airline industry, some airlines have developed other ways of creating value for customers, such as promotions. How is Emirates offering value to its current and potential customers?

Emirates is creating value for our customers through providing a safe experience at every touchpoint of the travel journey. When it comes to safety and health, we are finding that customers are not cutting corners and want an enhanced experience that provides them peace of mind.

However, to encourage travel further, Emirates has run campaigns for our customers such as ‘Fly Better’, which provided them with attractive fares to select worldwide destinations to reconnect with friends, explore new places, or just make up for lost time as they begin venturing out through travel.

For our loyal Emirates Skywards members, we have provided them additional flexibility by extending their tier status until 2022 as well as their Skywards Miles validity until June 2021. Skywards Miles can be redeemed up to 11 months in advance for an extensive range of rewards, including flight tickets on Emirates, flight upgrades, and many more privileges. We’ve also rolled out generous Emirates Skywards promotions for customers to accrue more Miles when booking with us, in addition to special Cash+Miles rates when purchasing tickets.

In addition, Emirates' booking policies have also offered customers flexibility and confidence to plan their travel. Customers who purchase an Emirates ticket for travel enjoy generous rebooking terms and options, if they have to change their travel plans. Customers have options to change their travel dates or extend their ticket validity for 2 years.

As mentioned, we introduced the airline’s industry first, multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover. This generous cover is offered by Emirates on all tickets purchased on or from 1 December 2020, at no cost to customers. In addition to COVID-19 medical cover, this latest offer also has provisions for personal accidents during travel, winter sports cover, loss of personal belongings, and trip disruptions due to unexpected air space closure, travel recommendations or advisories, similar to other multi-risk travel insurance products.

On the ground, we have also implemented world-first innovations such as the biometric path using facial and iris recognition at Dubai International Airport, as well as touchless check-in technologies which provides a frictionless experience for customers with virtually no interaction. We have accelerated these types of technologies with the health and safety of our customers in mind.

What can Ghanaian travelers look forward to with Emirates?

Ghanaian travellers can look forward to a safe journey across every travel touchpoint with Emirates, and rest assured that their health and safety is our number one priority.

Emirates has reengineered the full customer journey to deliver on our health and safety promises, with an intense focus is placed on biosafety standards of the highest degree without compromising on the customer experience. We’ve also invested in the onboard experience to boost our customer proposition now and later as travel demand gradually returns.