How Dubai-London air route has re-emerged among world's busiest after Covid shock
The popular Dubai to London Heathrow air travel route has re-emerged as one of the world's busiest following a resumption of flights following a lengthy suspension due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
According to new figures released by analysts OAG, the UAE-UK route is the third busiest so far in October with more than 217,000 seats.
Only routes between Antalya in Turkey and Moscow Sheremetyevo (270,402) and between Dubai and the Saudi capital Riyadh (240,938) registered more seats this month, OAG data showed.
In fact, four of the top 10 busiest international routes start or end in Dubai, connecting Riyadh, London Heathrow, Bahrain and Jeddah with the UAE.
The recovery follows a decision by the UK Government to accept UAE vaccination certificates from October 4, effectively opening up two-way travel between the countries.
The UAE joined 17 other countries whose vaccine certificates are now recognised.
Previously in early August, after 188 days, the UAE was finally removed from the UK’s travel Red List, boosting tourism between the countries.
And the popularity of the Dubai-Heathrow route is expected to rise further.
Research by UK national tourism body VisitBritain showed that more than half of UAE-based British expats intend to visit the UK more than they did in pre-Covid times.
The new data underlines the body’s previous findings, which showed that 60 percent of UAE-based British expat travellers planned to visit friends and relatives on their next international trip, the highest among all 20 markets surveyed.
UK ex-pats living in the UAE already stay longer and spend more than the average visitor, spending £1,250 per visit on average, twice as much as the global average of £696 in 2019, and staying 11 nights compared to seven.
The research showed that extending trip length for just one percent of the ex-pat population to an extra four nights would equate to an additional £1 million in spending coming into the UK.
Major events, including the Expo 2020 Dubai and celebrations taking place in Britain next year, including The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee and Festival UK 2022 present timely and valuable opportunities to promote Britain globally.
The Business Travel Association (BTA) on Tuesday revealed that the UK lost £5.66 billion in GDP in the first week of October, due to the lower level of business travel trips following Covid.
Separately, OAG also named Dubai International (DXB) as the busiest airport so far in October with more than 2.7 million seats, ahead of Amsterdam and Frankfurt.