Emirates Airlines revealed that its COVID-19 related travel refunds to customers have amounted to over Dhs 5 billion (US$ 1.4 billion).
More than 1.4 million refund requests have been completed since March, which represent 90 per cent of the airline’s backlog.
This includes requests received from customers across the globe until the end of June, 2020 with only a few cases now awaiting manual review.
Since the pandemic hit, Emirates has been ramping up efforts to increase its processing capability by investing in additional resources.
The airline continues to work with industry partners in order to facilitate refunds for bookings made through trade agents, including enabling direct refunds processing via global booking systems (GDS).
Emirates Airline President, Sir Tim Clark, said: "We understand that from our customers' standpoint, each pending refund request is one too many. We are committed to honouring refunds and are trying our utmost to clear the massive and unprecedented backlog that was caused by the pandemic. Most cases are straightforward, and these we will process quickly. But there are cases which will take a bit more time for our customer teams to manually review and complete. We are grateful to our customers for their patience and understanding.”
With global travel markets slowly reopening, Emirates has restarted its passenger operations around the world, ensuring a safe and smooth travel experience for all its customers.
Currently, the airline is offering flights to over 80 cities.