Dubai flight disruptions continue for fourth day

Dubai : Dubai International is facing its fourth day of disruptions with over 100 flights cancelled on Saturday, the day when the Middle East’s busiest airport is planning to return to full operations for the first time since Wednesday.

At least 21 airlines cancelled 109 flights to and from cities in China, India, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, the website of operator Dubai Airports showed Saturday morning. The cancellations mainly affected foreign airlines using Terminal 1. Flydubai cancelled five services. Emirates flights were not impacted.

Flydubai, who is the second biggest operator at the airport after Emirates, cancelled a flight from Budapest and return services to Arbil and Basra in Iraq. Indian budget carrier IndiGo said it would operate 14 flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and return to its normal schedule on Sunday.

The airport, which is also the busiest in the world for international passengers, has been operating at a reduced capacity since Wednesday when an Emirates Boeing 777 caught fire on the runway after landing. One of the airport’s two runways was damaged in the incident and closed for 29 hours. All 300 people onboard escaped before the passenger jet caught fire. There were 13 injuries and one fatality, a firefighter responding to the blaze. An investigation into the incident is underway.

Nearly 200 flights were cancelled and dozens more delayed on Friday. Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths said Thursday that 242 flights had been cancelled and 64 diverted in the two days since the accident. He also said that the airport would resume full operations on Saturday.

Airlines operating with larger aircraft have been given preference to operate flights as the airport tries to clear the backlog of thousands of passengers affected by flight cancellations and delays.

At least 19,000 passengers were affected on Wednesday, Dubai Airports has said. Meanwhile, Emirates said Thursday over 23,000 of its passengers had so far been affected.