Travellers booking with Emirates from 2 April onward now qualify for a single free date change in any cabin class, the airline confirmed, with the offer tied to ticket validity and any difference in fare.
The waiver accompanies a wider advisory the carrier issued after a string of governments tightened their borders in response to an Ebola outbreak. Where journeys are disrupted, Emirates said it will rebook affected passengers on the next available service, covering onward legs past its Dubai hub.
Emirates urged anyone with upcoming trips to confirm current entry conditions through official channels ahead of departure, keep their booking contact information current, and track flight status before leaving for the airport.
Among the GCC states, Bahrain moved first. On 19 May it barred entry to foreign nationals arriving from South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, a step few countries worldwide have taken and one Manama framed as a public-health safeguard. Jordan followed with its own block on arrivals from the DRC and Uganda, its state news agency reported.
The Bundibugyo strain behind the outbreak has no licensed vaccine and no approved therapy. Health officials have also warned the case count almost certainly understates the real picture, pointing to a period of undetected transmission before detection.
Inside the UAE, the National Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Management Authority and the Ministry of Health and Prevention said the country stands ready for any escalation, adding that monitoring and preparedness protocols are kept under continuous review against approved benchmarks.
WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said Thursday he was heading to the DRC to back response teams on the ground, voicing optimism the virus can be contained. He has cautioned, though, that long-running insecurity across the conflict-scarred east of the country is badly undercutting that effort. As of 24 May, WHO tallied 10 confirmed and 223 suspected Ebola-related deaths among more than 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases.
