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Emirates has announced that it has already paid out more than $1.2 billion in refunds for COVID-19-related flight disruptions. The Dubai-based airline has processed more than 1.4 million requests since March. This clears 90% of the backlog.

Like many airlines, Emirates has had to add extra customer service capacity due to the huge number of requests.

Sir Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airline said the following about the refunds:

“We understand our travelers’ position very well, which is that every outstanding refund request is one too many. We are committed to reimbursing outstanding refund requests and doing our utmost to resolve the massive and unprecedented backlog caused by the pandemic. Most requests are simple and we will process them quickly, but there are also cases where our teams need a little more time to manually review and finalize them. We are grateful to our passengers for their patience and understanding. ”

Emirates is gradually restarting its network and about 85 destinations are now available worldwide.

Emirates is trying to convince travellers to fly by offering special COVID insurance and a generous re-booking policy. Virgin Atlantic and Etihad are now also offering their passengers cover for COVID-related travel expenses.