It’s up to Dubai to halt flights to Moscow, insists Emirates

THE boss of Emirates has defended the airline’s decision to continue flying to Russia, insisting that it is “doing a job” by “connecting people”.

Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum insisted it was up to the government of Dubai, where Emirates is based, to decide whether to halt flights to Russia.

British Airways, Air France-klm and Lufthansa are among a long list of Western airlines that have suspended flying to Russia following Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has largely been cut off from global travel as its flag carrier Aeroflot halted all international flights with the exception of to its ally Belarus.

Mr Putin has upped the ante by “stealing” hundreds of aircraft that are owned by overseas companies.

Emirates is continuing to run regular flights to Moscow and St Petersburg.

Mr Maktoum, who works alongside British executive Sir Tim Clark, Emirates’ president, told CNBC: “At least we’re doing a job. We’re connecting people between the two countries. We shouldn’t really mix up between people and government decisions. That is a government decision. We haven’t got any instruction really to stop flights there.”

Hours after the Russian invasion in February, Sir Tim, credited with growing Emirates into the world’s biggest international airline, told The Daily Telegraph that many of the Gulf States “[have] always had very good relations with Russia”. He said: “I kind of try to stay away from politics. It’s something that’s going on in a different sphere of the world. Hopefully, it’ll get sorted.”

Speaking at the Arabian Travel Market trade show, Mr Maktoum said that Emirates would pay back a $4bn (£3.3bn) Covid bailout from the Dubai government by the end of the year.

Meanwhile, he hit back at criticism that Emirates benefited from receiving a greater amount of state aid during the crisis. He said: “They were complaining about us being subsidised. We know that all the major top airlines … They went to their government, they were in Europe, in America, they were in the Far East.”

Mr Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s ruling family, also said he had not had discussions with the Dubai government about listing the airline.