Emirates airlines has announced that it will provide travellers with a multi-risk travel cover worth $500,000 on top of its current COVID-19 cover.

In a recently released statement by the airline, the new multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover will automatically apply to all Emirates tickets purchased from December 1, and extend to Emirates codeshare flights operated by partner airlines, as long as the ticket number starts with 176.

Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive, Ahmed bin Al Maktoum was quoted as saying, “Emirates was the first airline to offer complimentary global COVID-19 cover for travellers back in July, and the response from our customers has been tremendously encouraging.

“We have not rested on our laurels and instead continued to look at how we can offer our customers an even better proposition. We are very pleased to be able to now provide this new multi-risk travel insurance and COVID-19 cover, which is another industry first, to all our customers.”

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He added, “We aim to give our customers even more confidence in making their travel plans this winter and moving into 2021 by the launch of this feature.”

Highlights of the coverage include out-of-country emergency medical expenses and evacuation up to $500,000, valid for COVID-19 (contracted during the trip) and other medical emergencies while travelling abroad.

It also involves trip cancellation up to $7,500 for non-refundable costs if the traveller or a relative (as defined in the policy) is unable to travel because they are diagnosed with COVID-19 before the scheduled trip departure date, or for other named reasons – similar to other comprehensive travel cover products.