Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest in terms of international traffic, said it was running “under restricted capacity and has since continued to operate with one runway”.
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“In addition, Jet Airways will re-route two Dubai bound flights to Sharjah and is awaiting slot approval from Sharjah Airport to re-route four additional flights”, the airline said in a statement.
Several flights have since been cancelled or delayed due to the incident, with Emirates reporting that it is still in “recovery mode” as far as its normal scheduling is concerned.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has submitted a report on Wednesday’s crash-landing of Emirates Thiruvananthapuram-Dubai flight at Dubai to the Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). Fortunately no casualties were reported on the airplane even though a firefighter subsequently died while rushing to the emergency spot.
No official reason for the incident has been announced as of Thursday, but CNN aviation correspondent Richard Quest said images of plane suggest the front landing gear of the aircraft could have collapsed. The rest stayed in transit at the airport.
Many Keralites were among the 226 Indians aboard the Boeing 777-300.
“The main priority remains with those involved and offering support to concerned family and friends”, the airline added.
Meanwhile, a male crew member can be heard shouting at the passengers “leave the bag, jump outside”.
Video posted online showed black smoke billowing from what looked like an Emirates jetliner lying on its belly on the runway.
The accident was the most serious ever for Emirates, which has grown at a breakneck pace over the last three decades and turned its hometown of Dubai into a major long-haul worldwide air hub.
The airport has resumed departure flights at 18:30 local time (1430 GMT) on Wednesday.
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The Boeing 777 departed Thiruvananthapuram at 10:19 a.m. and was scheduled to land at 12:50 p.m. local time, according to Emirates.
