Emirates refunds $1.72bn to customers hit by coronavirus travel curbs
Dubai-based carrier Emirates has refunded $1.72 billion to customers unable to take scheduled flights due to coronavirus travel restrictions, the airline said on Wednesday. Over the seven-month period from April, the airline processed 1.7 million refund requests and returned about $1.28 billion to passengers who booked tickets directly with Emirates, with the balance reimbursed via travel agencies.
Emirates also managed over 130,000 refunds-related queries from customers and travel agency partners, and made status changes to nearly 4 million flight coupons, the statement added.
“In the early months of 2020, COVID-19 massively disrupted travel around the world and led to an unprecedented volume of refunds requests across the aviation and travel industry, including at Emirates,” Emirates President Tim Clark said.
“It was not a situation any airline wanted, particularly while also facing a cash crunch from drastically reduced operations. Through those difficult months, as we dealt with the impact of the pandemic on our business, we’ve never lost sight of our commitment to our customers. Emirates has now cleared our backlog of refunds. We still have higher volumes of refunds and flight coupon change requests compared to pre-pandemic times, but can now manage these within a seven-day turnaround,” Clark added.
‘It was not a situation any airline wanted, particularly while also facing a cash crunch from drastically reduced operations.’