With the improved confidence in travel due to the rollout of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccines, Emirates Airline expressed confidence that its full fleet of Airbus A380s and Boeing 777s will resume flying before the year ends.
Emirates President Tim Clark has said a vaccination program would be vital to any recovery for the travel industry.
Clark, 71, said he believed that the recent wave of new infections and restrictions in some countries would not further impede the recovery.
“I think we always anticipated a bumpy patch,” Clark told Reuters in an interview.
“Once the pandemic is over and the global inoculation programme has kicked in at pace, then I see the restoration and a recapture of activity curves in all aspects of the global economy at pace, probably in the middle to back end of this year,” he added.
Emirates is currently flying 17 of its 115 A380s and 137 of its 160 777s, with some passenger jets operating as cargo planes.
Last week, Emirates was flying to about 120 destinations, compared to 157 before the pandemic, a report by Khaleej Times said. (CC)
