Positive diplomacy behind UAE passport’s top ranking globally

ABU DHABI: The UAE passport has risen to the third place globally in the passport index issued by the Arton Capital-canada, in its latest updates of the countries classification.

The UAE passport has also maintained its place as the most powerful passport in the Arab world.

It allows its holder to enter 134 countries around the world, including 86 countries without a prior visa, and 48 countries with visas to be obtained online or upon arrival.

The top ranks of the UAE passport is attributed to the positive diplomacy adopted by the UAE, Arton said.

Despite the challenges of travel amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the UAE has successfully opened its doors to tourism and commercial activities and resumed operations at international airports.

The Passport Index also included seven other countries in third place with the UAE, including Finland, Austria, Italy, Ireland, Japan, South Korea, and the United States, all of which achieved a score of 134.

The New Zealand passport ranked first with a score of 136.

Holders of the New Zealand passports are able to enter 92 countries without a prior visa and entre other 44 countries with a visa on arrival or online.

Four countries ranked second on the list, including Germany, Spain, Switzerland and Australia, with a score of 135.

The British passport ranked the fith on the list, while China, India and Pakistan ranked 54, 64 and 79, respectively.

The weakest passports in the world are Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and Somalia, which ranked 83, 82, 81 and 80, respectively.

On June 24, Dubai Airports reopened Terminal 1 and Concourse D at the Dubai International Airport.

The reopening of the facilities will enable the gradual return of 40 plus international carriers that are currently operating at Terminals 2 and 3 back to their home terminal at DXB.

Dubai Airports has advised passengers to confirm their terminal of departure and arrival with their airline before coming to the airport as the transition will be managed in several stages, with the plan for the relocation to be completed by the end of June.

Opened in February 2016, the $1.2 billion Concourse D is linked to Terminal 1 by an airport train, and the combination of these two facilities provide world-class service levels for an annual capacity of 18 million passengers.

Dubai’s airport operator is hoping for a “flood” of travellers as the coronavirus pandemic eases, targeting passenger traffic through Dubai International Airport to grow 8% to 28 million this year as demand rebuilds.

“People think it will trickle back. I don’t believe that. I believe it will be an absolute flood of demand when people get the confidence to travel again,” Dubai Airports Chief Executive Paul Griffiths had said.

The airport, one of the world’s busiest, could see over 40 million passengers this year if it was “really, really lucky,” Griffiths said, though it was likely to be somewhere between 24.7 million and 34.3 million.

Moreover, it was reported that Emirates Airlines plans to reactivate 90 per cent of its destinations network by the end of July.

Emirates serves 115 global destinations, and it says that by the end of July it will have recovered close to 90 per cent of its pre-pandemic network, operating 880 weekly services across 124 cities.

The airline will resume services to seven cities in July including Venice, Phuket, Nice, Orlando, Mexico City, Lyon and Malta. Emirates will also launch flights to Florida’s second largest city, Miami, starting July 22.

Emirates has also approved the use of IATA Travel Pass for its customers flying to 10 cities of the world.

The prestigious airline said it is planning to make the pass available to all its routes.

Emirates officials said that the airline has partnered with UAE government COVID-19 tracking app, Al Hosn to ease travel procedures for its customers.

The UAE government said the app is functioning normally ater a brief glitch that affected the services last week.

An SMS and email with an activation code would be sent to passengers urging them to downloading the IATA Travel Pass app.

The App is available to IOS and Android users.

Emiarets also said it would integrate Al Hosn app from July for its customers.

The sole aim of the IATA Travel Pass is to provide latest COVID-19 related information to governments, airlines, labs and travellers.

Emirates’ Chief Operating Officer Adel Al Redha had said that the airline has updated all its front to deal the current travel procedures. It has the biometric system installed at airport and recently tested their contactless and digital travel verification projects where residents can get their boarding pass with a simple scan of an Emirates ID.