Emirates Offering Passengers COVID Insurance

Emirates is taking its A380s out of mothballs and is offering prospective passengers COVID-19 insurance to help fill them and its other aircraft. The super jumbos were all parked for four months but the company started flying them on July 15 and now has six long-haul routes using the double-decker aircraft. Filling the 500 seats before the pandemic was a challenge and to help out in the current environment Emirates is taking a novel approach.

The company is offering free global coverage for COVID-19-related health expenses. Anyone diagnosed with COVID-19 within 31 days of taking a flight will have medical expenses covered up to $180,000 and quarantine costs of up to $120 a day. The insurance offer is valid for all flights, not just the A380s, which now go to six destinations from Dubai. The only North American destination is Toronto. The insurance is in addition to mandatory COVID testing at both ends of each flight and strict measures in the airplane, which the airline says it hopes will give travelers the confidence to fly.