Emirates Airlines on Monday announced a series of safety and cleaning efforts to help combat the spread of the coronavirus, including testing all passengers for COVID-19 on flights from Dubai.
The airline, based in the United Arab Emirates, is doing blood tests that return a result in 10 minutes. The test doesn't necessarily diagnose the virus but does check for antibodies that show if the person has been exposed to COVID-19.
In addition, Emirates has adopted the following:
- At Dubai International airport, gloves and masks are mandatory for all customers and employees
- On board Emirates' flights, seats are pre-allocated with vacant seats placed between individual passengers or family groups in observance of physical distancing protocols
- Modified its inflight services for health and safety reasons. Food and beverages continue to be offered in the form of bento-styled boxes to reduce contact between the crew and customers during meal service and minimize the risk of interaction
Also, with nearly half a million refund requests pending to manage, the airline has taken proactive steps to restructure its backend procedures and boost resourcing to accelerate the processing of refunds
Pre-pandemic, Emirates processed an average of 35,000 refund requests in a month. Now it is gearing up to handle 150,000 per month and aims to clear its current backlog by early August.
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