Emirates and Etihad announce July Phuket flights

Joining in support of reopening Phuket, Emirates Airlines and Etihad Airways have both announced flights resuming in July. Etihad Airways will start back up flights from the United Arab Emirates capital of Abu Dhabi on July 1, while Emirates Airlines will resume flights from Dubai on July 2. Qatar Airways had announced yesterday that they will be resuming flights to Phuket on July 1 as well.

In the announcement of the recommencement of flights to Phuket, Emirates confirmed they will operate 4 flights each week to bring international tourists back in Phuket’s tourism sandbox scheme. The statement called arrival into Phuket “hassle-free” for vaccinated travellers, with no quarantine required for arriving passengers.

“With measures in place to ensure a safe reboot of Phuket’s tourism industry, customers travelling to the destination known for its sprawling beaches and white sands will enjoy quarantine-free travel to one of the world’s most-loved holiday spots.”

The Dubai to Phuket flight route will leave the UAE at 3 am on Tuesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, arriving the same day in the afternoon at 12:30 pm. They will fly a Boeing 777-300ER with First Class, Business Class, and Economy Class. The return flight will leave Phuket 12 hours later, just after midnight at 12:10 am, the early mornings of Wednesday, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays, arriving at 3:05 am in the UAE.

Emirates Airlines resumed flights to Bangkok in September 2020, and will now add direct Phuket flights to their schedule, citing it as a holiday favourite for the Middle East and Europe.

From Abu Dhabi, Etihad is also excited about their relaunch, announcing flights to Phuket 3 times a week. They will fly with a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner configured with their signature classes of Economy Space and Neighbour-free seating. They announced the relaunch with a 2-day sales event, offering flights from UAE to Phuket starting at AED 995, about 8,400 baht for a roundtrip flight. They also offer business class fares until November 20 starting at AED 6,995, about 59,000 baht.

The airline has focuses its efforts on new safety programmes, such as launching Etihad Wellness at Abu Dhabi airport to ensure hygiene and sanitisation. They also created the Verified to Fly program where passengers can validate all their Covid-19 documents in advance of travel to allow fast track Covid-19 safe check-in once they arrive at the airport.

Today’s announcements from Etihad and Emirates to Phuket follow yesterday’s announcement of Qatar Airways running 4 flights a week starting on July 1, and Dutch airline KLM planning flights direct from Amsterdam to Phuket starting in October.

SOURCE: The Phuket News and Albawawa