https://apnews.com/article/covid-business-health-middle-east-dubai-468d17c87631105bee10c13331fad221
In this article, the United Arab Emirates airline is officially no longer receiving the bailout from the Dubai government. It will now switch to paying back the debt owed to Dubai. This comes in the wake of covid as United Arab Emirates airlines like all other airlines were hit extraordinarily hard by the lack of business during the early pandemic years and the reduced capacity in the middle pandemic era. However, now the United Arab Emirates airline is back up to 80% capacity on their flights and will be returning to normal operations in the second quarter of the fiscal year. During the Covid 19 pandemic, the government of Dubai elected to create a 4 billion bail-out fund for the United Arab Emirates airline. This is because the United Arab Emirates airline brings in one of Dubai’s main revenue sources which is tourism. Concern from the board has arisen, however, as United Arab Emirates airline’s CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum unveiled the airline’s plan to pay back the money. Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum’s roadmap of payment had the United Arab Emirates airlines paying back the 4 billion dollar loan to Dubai over the course of the 2022-2023 fiscal year. This sparked questions from the United Arab Emirates airline board as many were still nervous about more Covid 19 outbreaks and variants forcing the company to shut down again. Other board members were concerned about how fast the airline wanted to pay off these debts, raising questions of how the company was to afford a 4 billion dollar loss in revenue over such a short period of time. Despite these concerns, Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum remained steadfast in his resolve to pay back the debt to Dubai, his prerogative is that tourism is a vital part of Dubai’s economy and must be continued for the health of its economy.