Dubai Airports’ Paul Griffiths says departures improving steadily

Departure flights at Dubai’s main international airport are witnessing a steady improvement, Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths told state news agency Emirates News Agency on Saturday.

Griffiths said that the airports operator seeks to restore normal operations as quickly as possible while assisting passengers whose flights have been delayed in the aftermath of heavy rain that swamped the UAE last Tuesday.

“Our teams continue to distribute food and water throughout the airport to meet their needs,” Griffiths said.

To reduce congestion, Dubai Airports advised travellers against arriving too early at Dubai International Airport (DXB) to avoid overcrowding.

Griffiths urged passengers to check directly with their respective airlines for the latest information on their flights and to arrive at the airport no later than two hours before their scheduled departure time.

“To prioritise departure flights, we have limited the number of arriving flights for 48 hours, starting from 12 noon yesterday (Friday). These unprecedented circumstances pose unique challenges, and we are constantly working with all relevant authorities and the airport community to address them,” he said.

Meanwhile, Emirates and its sister airline flydubai said on Saturday that they have restored normal flight schedules from DXB after bad weather disrupted travel in one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs.

Emirates cancelled nearly 400 flights and delayed many more as a result of a record storm that hit the city last week, the airline’s president Sir Tim Clark said in an open letter on Saturday.

Clark said the carrier had provided 12,000 hotel rooms and 250,000 meal vouchers to customers who were affected. He added that it would take more days to clear the backlog of rebooked passengers and bags while appealing for “customers’ patience and understanding.”

Emirates has put together a task force to sort, reconcile and deliver some 30,000 pieces of left-behind baggage to their owners.

flydubai also returned to its full flight schedule from DXB’s Terminal 2 and Terminal 3 on Saturday following the weather-related disruption.

Read: Emirates, flydubai return to normal schedule from Dubai airport