Indian passenger carriers cancel flights to Dubai

New Delhi, Aug 4:

Some of the major Indian passenger carriers on Thursday cancelled their scheduled operations to Dubai due to the unavailability of runway at the Dubai International Airport.

The announcements by the Indian carriers came a day after an Emirates flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai caught fire after it crash-landed at Dubai airport.

“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.

Another low cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo also cancelled its flights to Dubai for August 4, due to the unavailability of runway at the Dubai airport.

“From August 05 till 0730 IST August 07 – limited flights will be allowed to operate from Dubai airport,” IndiGo said in a statement.

The airline said that it has already notified passengers about their respective flight status through various channels.

On Wednesday, Emirates flight EK521, ferrying 282 passengers and 18 crew, caught fire when it crash-landed at Dubai International Airport.

All passengers and crew were evacuated safely. After the incident, Dubai International Airport was closed for about six hours.

“Emirates cancelled 27 flights yesterday, and there were delays and rescheduled flights across the network,” an Emirates spokesperson said.

“(In all) 23 flights were diverted to alternative airports — Sharjah, Al Maktoum International (DWC), Fujairah, Al Ain, Muscat and Bahrain. In total, over 23,000 Emirates passengers were impacted by the disruption.” (IANS)