UAE residents were experiencing visa delays in 2022 due to multiple factors including, a significantly higher demand for travel and a passenger cap levied by the London Heathrow airport. Now the visa processing time for UAE residents travelling to the United Kingdom (UK) has been substantially reduced which has resulted in increased passenger traffic to the European country.
Many residents cancelled their travel plans to the UK as the visitor visa processing time had exceeded seven weeks, during the summer of last year. London is one of the most popular destinations as thousands of UAE residents fly to the city for short and long holidays as well as summer breaks. Last year, London Heathrow airport’s decision to cap departing passengers at 100,000 per day also impacted flights.
“Emirates and British Airways have increased capacity so the airfares have gone down from the peak level seen last year. UK immigration is giving visas faster and businessmen can even get visas in 48 hours at times, depending on the requirement. Hence, there is a sizeable increase in travel and traffic to Europe, specifically the UK,” added Thapa.
The Dubai-based carrier has announced it will resume its second daily service to London Stansted in May 2023, boosting its London operations to 11 daily flights, including six times daily to London Heathrow and three times daily to Gatwick. It will also scale up its A380 operations with the iconic double-decker returning to Birmingham on July 1, 2023.
