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The most recent shutdown of Dubai’s essential airport due to a drone strike disrupted 1000’s of British travellers’ travel plans.
Earlier today, flights from Dubai Airport were suspended for several hours overnight after a drone attack caused a fuel tank to burst into flames.
Images from the scene showed thick smoke reaching into the sky within the early hours of this morning.
Many Emirates flights already within the air were diverted, while others waiting to take off were cancelled. Five flights from UK airports returned to their points of origin.
They included a flight from Edinburgh, which had made it so far as Egyptian airspace before it turned back.
Passengers onboard a flight from London Stansted nearly made it to Dubai, but were diverted to Vienna, Austria.
The suspension of flights also affected 1000’s of people that were hoping to finally return to the UK after being stranded within the Middle East – or other parts of the world where UK flights connect within the region – for the reason that start of the US-Israeli campaign against Iran.
All seven Emirates flights from Dubai to London Heathrow on Monday were cancelled. As of 6 am, Dubai International Airport said flights were ‘steadily resuming’.
Flights to and from the airport were heavily restricted for several days following the beginning of the conflict on February 28.
About half one million passengers per day normally use airports in Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi, that are vital hubs for travel between Europe and the continents of Asia and Australia.
After the drone strike earlier, several planes were diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport, southwest of town.
Dubai International is the busiest airport within the Middle East and the busiest on this planet for international passenger traffic.
Last yr, 95.2 million people passed through the hub, and numbers were predicted to approach 100 million in 2026.
Nonetheless, the war in Iran has had a big impact on travel within the region.
British Airways announced earlier this month it will not run flights to or from Dubai – one in all its hottest destinations – until a minimum of the top of March.
In a post on social media, the airline said the choice was taken as a result of ‘the continuing uncertainty of the situation within the Middle East and airspace instability’.
Inside hours of the war starting on February 28, a missile hit Dubai Airport, injuring 4 people and damaging a concourse.
An additional 4 people were injured last Wednesday when two drones fell within the vicinity of the airport.
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