Emirates refunds $1.4 billion to pandemic-affected customers

Emirates has refunded $1.4 billion to customers affected by COVID-19 travel restrictions covering 1.4 million refund requests since March, representing 90 percent of the backlog.

All requests received from around the world up until the end of June have been satisfied, except for cases requiring further manual review.

Emirates had increased its capacity to process refund requests

According to Emirates president Tim Clark, they are committed to honoring refunds with the massive and unprecedented backlog that was caused by the pandemic.

The Middle East’s largest carrier halted operations in late March due to the pandemic.

Emirates, which has a fleet of 270 wide-bodied aircraft, reopened commercial flights on May 21 with the nine cities of London, Frankfurt, Paris, Milan, Madrid, Chicago, Toronto, Sydney and Melbourne.

It has since widened its network of destinations to 84.

Emirates chief operating officer, Adel Al-Redha, said the airline expects to resume flights to all “network destinations” by summer 2021.

Emirates posted a net profit of $288 million for the financial year ending March, up from $237 million the previous year.

It was the 32nd straight year of profit for the Dubai-based carrier.