January flight sales: Emirates and Etihad offer discounted fares to Cairo, Maldives, Manila and more

Cut-price flights are on sale from Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Dubai's Emirates has launched its annual January flight sale with discounted tickets in Economy and Business class cabins. Courtesy Emirates

While travel has been on the back-burner for the best part of a year for most people, there's hope that 2021 will be different.

As authorities around the world roll out Covid-19 vaccination programmes, many people are optimistic that they may be able to travel again this year.

In keeping with that hope, Emirates and Etihad have launched January flight sales. The Dubai and Abu Dhabi airlines are offering promotional fares on flights to various destinations across the world, available in both Economy and Business classes.

Emirates January Sale: Cairo, Karachi and Moscow

Dubai's Emirates is encouraging travellers to "reconnect with the world in 2021" with flights on sale from now until Tuesday, February 2.

Bargain fares include tickets from Dubai to Karachi starting from Dh1,055, to Istanbul from Dh1,605 and to Cairo from Dh1,695 in Economy class. For travellers planning to fly to the US, tickets to Los Angeles start from Dh4,995.

There are also bargains to be had on Business class fares with tickets from Dubai to London from Dh5,160 and to Moscow from Dh9,995.

Travellers looking to secure promotional tickets need to be travelling on or before Tuesday, June 15.

Emirates said it was launching the sale so that "customers can make up for lost time in 2021". All travellers will receive flexible booking options and multi-risk travel insurance that includes Covid-19 cover.

Etihad's seasonal offers: Maldives, Manila and Beirut

The national airline of the UAE kick-started 2021 with a flash one-hour sale on New Year's Eve, offering fares on select flights for only Dh10. It followed this up with a two-for-one offer which ran until January 13.

While both of those promotions have ended, if you're quick you can still get seasonal fares to select destinations.

Among the places on sale are Cairo, with Economy fares from Dh1,078, Manila from Dh2,428 and Beirut from Dh1,778. If you want to fly Business class with Etihad, you can book a promotional flight from Abu Dhabi to the Maldives with fares from Dh9,141.

Book by Thursday, January 21 to access these fares, which are valid on flights until November 24, except Cairo's Economy fare which is only valid on travel before Wednesday, March 31.

Travellers flying with Etihad have flexible booking policies, and travel insurance that covers treatment for Covid-19. As the first airline to require that 100 per cent of travellers are tested for the coronavirus before flying, Etihad also offers passengers a free Covid-19 test for all flights departing Abu Dhabi.

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Inside Emirates' A380 Premium Economy cabin