Unstable weather diverts 10 DXB flights to other airports
dubai — Hundreds of passengers were stranded on Sunday night after several incoming flights were diverted from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to other airports in the UAE and Oman due to the unstable weather.
“Dubai Airports can confirm that 10 flights bound for DXB were diverted to neighbouring airports during the early hours of Monday due to adverse weather conditions,” a DXB spokesperson told Khaleej Times on Monday.
“All the diverted flights have since returned to DXB and normal operations have been restored at the air- port,” the spokesperson added.
One passenger, who took EK573 from Kolkata, India, to DXB, was supposed to have landed past midnight but the flight was diverted to Muscat, and then finally to Al Ain, where the passengers were stuck on the runway for four hours.
“The reason given to us was that DXB ‘was too busy to let us in’,” the passenger told Khaleej Times.
“More than 50 people on board have missed their connecting flights,” added the Dubai resident.
A fresh set of crew was allocated to operate flight EK573 which continued to the Dubai airport and arrived with “six hours and 45 minutes delay”.
“Emirates apologises to all affected passengers for any inconvenience caused, but the safety of our passengers and crew is of the utmost importance and will not be compromised,” an Emirates spokesperson told Khaleej Times.
Emirates said: “Adverse weather in Dubai (during the early hours of) March 18 caused the diversion of Emirates flight EK060 (Hamburg
to Dubai International Airport) to Dubai World Central, and Emirates flight EK573 (Kolkata to Dubai International Airport) to Al Ain International Airport.
“After weather conditions improved, flight EK060 continued to Dubai International Airport and arrived with two hours 20 minutes delay,” Emirates added.
The airline added: “Due to crew duty time limitations, a fresh set of crew was allocated to operate flight EK573 which continued to Dubai International Airport and arrived with six hours and 45 minutes delay.”
Backlogs have been cleared and operations were back to normal since Monday morning.
All the diverted flights have since returned to DXB and normal operations have been restored at the airport.”
Emirates spokesperson