Dubai airport reopens second runway, in ‘recovery mode’

Dubai International Airport has re-opened a second runway which was slightly damaged in the Emirates EK521 crash landing incident on Wednesday, operator Dubai Airports announced on Thursday.

The runway was re-opened at 5:45 pm local time after severe disruptions at the airport.

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths described the re-opening of the runway within 29 hours after the accident as a “big achievement”.

“We are facilitating as fast as we can the capacity for airlines to ensure a quick recovery,” Griffiths told reporters at a press conference.

Flight movements have been disrupted following the crash landing of an Emirates flight on Wednesday afternoon at 12.45pm local time.

Flight EK521, a Boeing 777 jet operating from the Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram to Dubai, had 282 passengers and 18 crew onboard. All of them are safe, but a firefighter died during rescue efforts.

In a statement, Dubai Airports said that a total of 116 arriving and 121 departing flights were cancelled and 44 inbound flights were diverted to neighbouring airports following the accident.

“The disruption of normal operations yesterday affected a total of 19,000 passengers before DXB resumed operations under restricted capacity at 1830hrs,” it said.

“The airport is expected to be on recovery mode for the next 48 hours with efforts in full swing to clear backlogged flights,” the statement added.

Several airlines including Indian carriers Spice Jet, Indigo and Jet Airways cancelled all their flights to and from Dubai on Thursday because of limited operations at the Dubai International Airport.

Flydubai also cancelled several flights on Thursday while Emirates said it expected disruptions to its flights to continue for the next 36 hours.

Read more here: Several airlines cancel Dubai flights on Thursday

All passengers travelling through the airport have been advised to check with their airlines in advance.

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority has said that investigators are working closely with Emirates Airlines and Dubai Airport to establish the cause of the accident.

Also read: Investigation begins into Emirates crash landing

Firefighter dies during Emirates’ plane crash at Dubai airport

“Jump! Jump!” – video shows chaos in cabin of crashed Emirates plane