IndiGo, Air India flights faced disruptions as Dubai International Airport said it is diverting arrival of flights as heavy rains have caused flooding across United Arab Emirates and on the tarmac of one of the world's busiest airports.
Dubai International Airport said on April 17 it was experiencing significant disruption due to bad weather and was working to restore normal operations as quickly as possible.
Flights have been delayed or diverted and impacted by displaced crew, the airport said in a statement, adding that recovery would take some time.
Dubai's Emirates airline said it was suspending check-in for passengers departing the airport from 8 a.m. (0400 GMT) on Wednesday until midnight due to operational challenges caused by the bad weather and road conditions.
Flights from India were also affected as major airlines such as IndiGo and Air India began to inform flyers about the situation. Several flights to Dubai have been cancelled, according to reports.
“#6ETravelAdvisory: Due to adverse weather conditions in #Dubai #Sharjah #RasAlKhaimah #AbuDhabi & #Muscat, our flight operations are impacted. Please keep a track of your flight status at https://bit.ly/2EjJGGT before leaving for the airport,” IndiGo said in a post on X.
The bad weather conditions worsened for the airline as the complaints of travellers began to flood in. An account on social media platform X said, “Travelling from Indore to Dubai via Ahmedabad turned into a nightmare! After a 7-hour layover, Indigo flight cancelled due to #DubaiRains. Now stranded in Ahmedabad airport for 12+ hrs, facing chaos to cancel immigration, reschedule, cancel, or find accommodation. @IndiGo6E staff is super clueless. Absolutely messed up management #TravelNightmare #IndigoAirlines #Token2049.”
Another account said, “@IndiGo6E Shame on you for abrupt cancellation of all flights from MUM & BLR to DXB on 16th April. Had to spend 1.53L to reach Dubai so as not to lose out on our land bookings. All other airlines are flying to Dubai but IndiGo is afraid of their thunderstorms!”
IndiGo’s customer care responded and said, “Hi, we regret the experience and assure you that it is never our intent to disrupt the travel plans of our customers. As checked, the mentioned flight is cancelled due to prevailing bad weather conditions in Dubai. (1/2).”
It also shared a link to initiate refunds. “Further, customers may visit our Plan B link at http://shorturl.at/nrsyW to opt for a full refund or an alternate flight as per their need. (2/2) ~Kiran,” the airline said.
Air India too faced a barrage of complaints from customers.
“@airindia flight AI 918 from Dubai to New Delhi scheduled at 1.10 pm on 16th April 2024 got cancelled and the passengers are stranded at the Dubai airport. They need help immediately. No Air India staff at the DXB airport to stamp the passport and guide the passengers,” a flyer said on X.
Air India confirmed that the cancellations are because of the bad weather conditions in Dubai and they are taking the necessary steps. It said, “We're sorry for the inconvenience caused. As checked, flight AI918 is cancelled due to bad weather at Dubai airport. Our team is working diligently to minimize the inconvenience caused. However, we've alerted our team to provide the necessary assistance.”
Dubai-based airline flydubai also temporally halted all of its flights departing from Dubai until April 17’s morning due to bad weather, the UAE state news agency WAM reported.
"All flydubai flights scheduled for departure from Dubai this evening (16 April) have been canceled effective immediately until 10:00 (Dubai local time) on 17 April. During this period, passengers who do not have Dubai as their final destination will not be accepted for travel," a flyDubai spokesperson was quoted as saying.
The website of one of the world’s busiest airport showed that several flights have been delayed or cancelled with affected destinations including India, Pakistan, Saudi and the United Kingdom.
Adverse weather hit other locations in the Gulf Peninsula, including Oman, where at least 18 people have been killed due to heavy rains in recent days, its state news agency said.
According to reports, it could be the wettest April day in Dubai as 40 mm of rain battered city’s two airports. One of the major reasons that caused the heavy rains was cloud seeding, which was carried out on April 15 by the country’s weather department, Bloomberg said in a report.
With inputs from Reuters
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