(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Flight disruptions continued at Dubai International Airport on Thursday, as the airport continues to operate without the use of its second runway.
Dubai Airports on Thursday announced that operational teams across the terminals at Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) are doing their best to assist arriving and departing passengers. Dubai International Airport resumed operations at 18:30 hours UAE local time, Wednesday - following the Emirates EK521 accident - under restricted capacity and has since continued to operate with one runway, while maximising the use of the runway at Dubai World Central (DWC). "To ensure the comfort of passengers waiting for their flights, all food outlets across DXB and DWC are providing free refreshments and water, while free unlimited Wi-Fi has been made available at Dubai International to enable passengers to stay in touch with their family and friends," airport authorities have said. The airline cancelled 27 flights on Wednesday because of the accident, and delayed and rescheduled several others, affecting the travel plans of 23,000 passengers. It diverted 23 incoming flights to Dubai's second airport, as well as other Emirati airports in Sharjah, Al Ain, and Fujairah, and airports in nearby Oman and Bahrain. The airport is expected to be on recovery mode for the next 48 hours with efforts in full swing to clear backlogged flights. The situation for passengers at the airport on Thursday was much improved, however, several flights from India were cancelled or diverted to other airports in the country. Budget carrier, IndiGo, cancelled all their flights to Dubai, while Air India and Jet Airways diverted their operations from Dubai International Airport to nearby airports. In a statement on Twitter, IndiGo informed travellers that due to the unavailability of the second runway at Dubai airport, all IndiGo flights operating to and fro India stands were cancelled for August 4, 2016. "From August 05 till 0730 IST August 07, 2016 - limited flights will be allowed to operate from Dubai airport. All IndiGo passengers are requested to check their respective flight status via customer relations or twitter/FB or our website. We have already notified passengers via web chat, SMS's, and through other channels. Our call centre representatives are available 24x7 to address customer queries. We express our deepest regret over the incident that occurred at the Dubai airport yesterday, and stand in support of our people representing the aviation fraternity," the statement read. Air India Express (AIE) on Thursday said that it has not cancelled any of its flights from Dubai to Kerala and Mangalore, but will be operating via Sharjah in the aftermath of the incident. Early on Thursday, Dubai authorities informed that 'narrow-body aircraft' operations will be shifted to Sharjah airport from Dubai. Passengers were informed through call centres that whoever is coming from Dubai to Kerala should go to Sharjah to board the flight. "Dubai airport has announced limited operations up to August 5, 2016. As a result, for August 4, 2016, Jet Airways has cancelled four flights from India to Dubai along with their corresponding return flights," a Jet Airways spokesperson said in a statement. "In addition, Jet Airways will re-route two Dubai-bound flights to Sharjah and is awaiting slot approval from Sharjah Airport to re-route four additional flights." Budget passenger carrier, SpiceJet, too, cancelled all its flights to Dubai, which were to be operated on Thursday. "In the wake of the Emirates aircraft crash-landing at Dubai airport yesterday, and in accordance with the instructions from the Dubai Airport Authorities, all our flights to and from Dubai scheduled for today have been cancelled," SpiceJet said in a statement. "Post the runway closure at Dubai airport yesterday, our yesterday's flights to the city had been diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport, Ras Al Khaimah International Airport, and Sharjah International Airport." The budget carrier further said that it had arranged alternate mode of travel for passengers of the diverted flights to reach Dubai city. Meanwhile, several Emirates flights, as well as others from foreign carriers landing at the hub, were cancelled on Thursday. Low-cost carrier, FlyDubai, also said that it had cancelled 20 flights.
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