Dubai-London flight bookings surge by 112% on travel corridor announcement
Flight bookings from London to Dubai have risen by 112 percent since the UK-UAE travel corridor was announced on November 12, according to official data.
“The UK’s announcement that it will lift the 14-day quarantine restriction on arrivals from Dubai has had an immediate impact on travel demand in the opposite direction,” Olivier Ponti, VP Insights at travel analytics firm ForwardKeys, told Arabian Business.
During the same week, flight searches for travel to Dubai from the UK jumped by 136 percent, ForwardKeys data showed. “This makes it crystal clear that people are strongly deterred from travelling to a destination if they fear they will need to self-isolate on their return,” Ponti added.
Dubai’s Emirates airline said on Thursday it would run a multi-million dollar global campaign to promote 'Destination Dubai', including advertising spots and key partnerships to provide travellers with extra value.
Emirates’ multi-channel advertising campaign, which showcases Dubai’s attractions to those seeking a winter getaway, will initially launch in the UK and key European markets on television, online and social media channels.
Back in the air
Since grounding its entire fleet in late March due to the global coronavirus lockdown, Emirates has gradually announced flights to soak up increased demand. Emirates increased its twice-daily Dubai-London A380 and once daily Boeing 777 flights to four daily A380 services from 27 November.
Emirates also increased its Dubai-Manchester flights to ten times a week from December 2.
“Following the announcement of the UK-UAE air corridor, Emirates increased capacity to a number of UK touchpoints,” said Saj Ahmad, chief analyst at London-based aviation consultancy StrategicAero Research. “There certainly has been more robust demand out of London and tier two areas for Dubai travel as evidenced by Emirates' extra flights.
“The demand is clearly there as evidenced by the airline’s commitment to deploying capacity – it comes down to whether the airline can monetise it given the globally precarious economic backdrop,” Ahmad added.
The analyst pointed out that of the 115 A380s in the Emirates fleet, 104 of the double-decker planes remain grounded amid the global pandemic.
Dubai’s tourism industry, like many major cities around the world, has suffered from collapsed consumer demand amid the coronavirus pandemic, flight restrictions and international quarantine measures.
According to research firm Euromonitor International, the UK is an important source market for Dubai historically, ranking as the third biggest source market to Dubai in 2019.
Euromonitor International forecasted in September that overall visitor arrivals from the UK to UAE are expected to decline by 69 percent in 2020.