- Thousands of Australians will remain stranded in the U.K. after a decision by the British government to closed its border to the United Arab Emirates
- The move means UAE-based airline Emirates has had to suspend all flights between U.K. and Dubai — subsequently suspending Australian flights, too
- The airline’s flights will be suspended from midnight Saturday AEDT — less than a day after the U.K.’s border rules were announced
- Of the 40,000 Australian currently stuck overseas, it’s suspected around 4500 are in the U.K.
- The Emirates suspension puts more pressure on the Australian government to schedule extra Qantas flights to pick up overseas residents.
Thousands of Australians will remain stranded in the U.K. after a decision by the British government to closed its border to the United Arab Emirates.
The move has caused UAE-based airline Emirates to suspend all flights between the U.K. and Dubai indefinitely, meaning overseas Australians have fewer opportunities to come home.
The border close was announced this morning, just hours before the new rules come into effect.
It’s suspected that of the 40,000 Australians currently stuck overseas, around 4500 are in the U.K.
Emirates released an update on its website confirming its U.K. flights for the foreseeable future will cease at 1:00 pm on Friday GMT, which is midnight on Saturday AEDT.
“As directed by the U.K. government, Emirates will be suspending passenger services between Dubai and all our U.K. points — Birmingham, Glasgow, London, Manchester, effective 1300hrs GMT on 29 January 2021 until further notice,” the update said.
“We regret the inconvenience caused, and affected customers should contact their booking agent or Emirates call centre for rebooking.”
The final flights from Dubai to the U.K will be to London, Birmingham, and Glascow.
This deals another blow to stranded Australians, who have already had a difficult time coming home due to hotel quarantine rules and limits to the number of overseas passengers allowed back into the country each week.
Emirates has, up until now, been one of the biggest carriers of returning Australians, with more than 2000 residents returning to Australia over almost 150 flights over the month of November.
The U.K. ban puts more pressure on the Australian government to schedule extra Qantas flights to pick up overseas residents.
The government announced 20 extra repatriation flights in mid-January but has so far only scheduled six of these.
Today’s blow also comes just days after Victorian Premier Dan Andrews flagged upcoming changes to the number of overseas residents allowed to return to Victoria per week.
As of mid-February, Victoria plans to allow 2100 passengers into the state, up from the 1120 currently allowed to enter.