UAE's flydubai says carries only legitimate travellers as migrants fly to Belarus

The chief executive of Emirati carrier flydubai, which operates a daily flight to Minsk, said on Monday it only allows passengers with valid travel documents to board but acknowledged that some could conceal their true reason for travelling. The European Union is threatening to slap sanctions on airlines found to be transporting migrants who then seek to enter the bloc illegally from Belarus.

The chief executive of Emirati carrier flydubai, which operates a daily flight to Minsk, said on Monday it only allows passengers with valid travel documents to board but acknowledged that some could conceal their true reason for travelling.

The European Union is threatening to slap sanctions on airlines found to be transporting migrants who then seek to enter the bloc illegally from Belarus. EU foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels on Monday to agree additional sanctions against Belarus over the crisis, which has seen up to 4,000 people stranded in freezing forests on the Belarusian border with Poland.

"Nobody likes to see these things but as for transportation of people to Minsk, every passenger we transport has the right documentation, the right visa," Ghaith Al Ghaith told Reuters at the Dubai Airshow. "We have never carried a passenger who was illegal" under the rules in operation on the day of travel, he said.

'PEOPLE'S INTENT' But he also called on governments to work more closely with airlines to identify illegitimate passengers as "you cannot (always) determine what is people's intent".

"Without tools in our hand, you know, we cannot identify who is who and if there was people who unfortunately suffered from ... what we do, we are so sorry for that," Al Ghaith said. The airline, owned by the government of Dubai, increased direct services to Minsk in mid-September from several flights a week to a daily service, website flightradar24 shows.

The airline's website has frequently shown seats not available on flights or air fares for sale far higher than comparable routes. Ghaith said air fares were driven by demand but that he did not know why demand for Minsk was so high. Reuters footage has shown flydubai boarding passes among possessions left by migrants on the Polish side of the border.

European officials have lobbied the United Arab Emirates, a major international transit hub, to help stop the migrant flow. The EU accuses Minsk of encouraging migrants to cross the Belarusian border into its member states in retaliation for sanctions imposed over human rights abuses in Belarus. Belarus' state carrier Belavia said on Monday the UAE had barred Afghan, Iraqi, Syrian and Yemeni citizens from boarding flights in the Gulf state to Minsk. There was no immediate UAE confirmation.

Flydubai's website showed one-way economy air fares to Minsk fell on Monday from $2,000 to as low as $310 following the Belavia disclosure. (Editing by Gareth Jones)

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