Emirates To Cut Several Flights During Dubai Airport Revamp

Emirates Airline will be trimming several services during the 80-day maintenance at Dubai International Airport beginning from May 1, 2014, according to reports.

The airline is planning to halve the number of flights it operates to Amman, Amsterdam, Beirut, Cairo, Cape Town, Glasgow, Lagos, Moscow Domodedovo, Muscat, and Nairobi, reported UK-based Business Traveller.

Emirates currently operates twice-daily services to these cities.

Services to Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Milan Malpensa and Tehran will also be reduced to two-daily from the current three daily flights.

The carrier will also decrease flights to Bahrain, Bangkok, Colombo, Delhi, Doha, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait City, Mumbai, Riyadh, Seychelles and Vienna, said the report.

Emirates did not officially confirm the route-cuts, responding with the following statement: “Emirates has a close working relationship with Dubai Airports and is aware of the need for runway upgrading work to be carried out in May 2014.

“We fully support the airport enhancements, which are in the wider interests of Dubai’s development as a global aviation hub. Emirates will provide full cooperation with any rescheduling required and adjust operations accordingly. Mirroring the approach of Dubai Airports, safety is of paramount importance.”

Dubai Airports, which announced the runway enhancement project earlier this year, confirmed at the time that scheduled passenger flights will be reduced while maintenance work is taking place.

“Safety and service are our two top priorities,” Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airports said in a statement. “While we regret any inconvenience caused to our airline customers and our passengers, these upgrades are necessary to heighten safety, boost capacity and quite literally pave the way for future expansion.”

Dubai World Central, the emirate’s new airport which opens its doors for passenger operations on October 27 this year, will also be an available alternative to absorb affected scheduled passenger flights, the statement added.