Passengers from six mainly Muslim countries who would have been barred from the United States under President Donald Trump's latest travel order will be allowed to board US-bound flights on Emirates and Etihad Airways now that a federal judge has blocked it, the Middle East carriers said Thursday. The executive order banning refugees and nationals of six Muslim-majority countries from traveling to the US was temporarily halted on Wednesday, hours before it was to go into effect, by a federal judge in Hawaii. Emirates will follow guidance by US Customs and Border Protection, issued after the court's decision, that citizens of Iran, Libya, Syria, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen would be accepted for travel to the US if they possessed the necessary travel documents, an airline spokeswoman said by email. Etihad Airways "will continue to accept guests of all nationalities for travel to the US provided they have valid travel documents and, if necessary, visas," an airline spokeswoman said. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier said it would continue to assist passengers affected by the recent executive orders but was advising them to check with their nearest US mission as "US travel requirements are subject to change." The Wednesday court ruling is only temporary, until broader arguments in the case can be heard. Trump said it made the United States look weak, and promised to take the case "as far as it needs to go.<br/>
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Etihad Airways is introducing its superjumbo aircraft to Paris in a vote of confidence that the French market is rebounding from a travel slump following a spate of terror attacks. The Abu Dhabi-based airline will deploy an Airbus Group SE A380 now serving Mumbai for one of two daily flights to Paris during the peak July 1-to-Oct. 28 summer timetable, Etihad said in a statement. The carrier will assign an Airbus A340-600 to the Indian route, a spokeswoman said in an e-mail. The adjustment meets “growing demand,” Peter Baumgartner, the head of the carrier, said in the statement. The 496-seat A380 will replace a 328-seat Boeing Co. 777 on the Paris route, lifting daily capacity by 26%. Travel to France has dropped following a series of terrorist attacks that started in 2015, with foreign visitor arrivals by air falling 8.1% in the first 10 months of last year. The government outlined a series of measures in November intended to improve security for tourists.<br/>