As Italy reopens borders for travelers, Dubai-based carrier Emirates has announced a slew of new and increased services. Emirates is resuming flights to Venice in July as well as increasing frequency on the route to Milan thanks to new Italian entry requirements. This brings the total number of flights to Italy to 21 a week.

Emirates is preparing to jump on the increased travel possibility to Italy. Earlier this month, Italy launched its “Covid-Tested flights” policy for services to and from the US. The new policy allows entire flights full of passengers to enter the country without quarantining so long as every passenger has provided negative PCR test results before boarding.

Several US airlines immediately began offering Covid-tested flights on their websites, and now Emirates is looking to do the same. Italy added the UAE, Canada, and Japan to the list of countries able to apply for Covid-Tested flights on May 14th.

According to a statement on its website, Emirates will resume operations from Dubai to Venice from July 1st. Initially, the airline will operate three flights a week to increase travel and trade between the two countries.

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Increasing frequency

As well as resuming its Venice route, Emirates will also increase the frequency of its service to Milan. Starting in July, Emirates will offer 10 weekly flights. A daily service will operate from Dubai to New York via Milan in addition to three flights a week specifically to service Milan. Emirates will operate its Boeing 777-300ER on both the Venice and Milan routes.

Emirates will now operate 21 flights per week to Italy. Photo: Emirates

The new route and increased frequency bring the airline’s total number of flights to Italy up to 21. Emirates also operates flights to Rome five times a week and flights to Bologna three times a week.

His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates Chairman and Chief Executive, said: “We welcome the Covid-Tested flight arrangements and would like to thank the Italian and UAE authorities for their ongoing efforts to ease and facilitate international travel.” He continued to say that, “We hope that more countries will consider similar arrangements to facilitate quarantine-free travel.”

What do Covid-Tested flights involve?

Emirates' new flights will all follow Italy’s new Covid-tested flight rules. This means that, from June 1st, anyone flying with Emirates to Italy over the age of two will need to have a negative COVID-19 PCR test or a Rapid Antigen test.

The test must have been performed within 48 hours of departure. Even with this negative test in hand, passengers will be required to take a second Rapid Antigen test in Italy. Passengers will have to pay for this themselves.

All passengers arriving in Italy will need to be tested, even if they have a negative test upon departure. Photo: Emirates

Despite all the precautions, passengers will also be required to fill in a passenger locator form. Travelers must book the test in advance but can pay at the airport. Anyone who doesn’t book online may have to wait longer at the airport.

Anyone entering Italy on another airline from a different country will still need to quarantine and provide negative test results. However, Italy is slowly adding more and more countries to its list of possible Covid-tested flight destinations.

Do you think Covid-Tested flights will encourage more people to travel? Let us know what you think in the comments.