An Emirates Airline flight is seen after it crash-landed at Dubai International Airport, the UAE August 3, 2016.
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The plane, arriving from India, caught fire after slumping onto the runway in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Wednesday (August 3), killing one firefighter in an intense blaze and bringing the world’s busiest worldwide airport to a halt for several hours.
Though the airport officials said that the delay was due to the shutdown of the Dubai global airport in the wake of the fire incident on Wednesday, the exact reason is not yet known.
IndiGo said they will operate only one flight to and from Dubai on the Delhi-Dubai-Delhi sector on Friday with all other flights to Dubai being cancelled on Friday. Flights, EK 523 of 4.30 a.m. and EK 521 of 10.30 a.m., departed from Thiruvananthapuram after a slight delay, airline sources said. About 19,000 passengers were affected, it said. Al Maktoum global is located an hour’s drive away from Dubai worldwide Airport.
Altogether 300 people, including 18 crew members, were on board, all of whom are reported safe.
SpiceJet said its flights to Dubai have been diverted to – Al Maktoum International Airport, Ras Al Khaimah International Airport and Sharjah International Airport.
One firefighter was killed while putting out a fire, caused by the crash-landing, which burnt out the plane.
Meanwhile, IndiGo has requested its passengers travelling to and from Dubai to check their respective flight status via customer relations or twitter/FB or on the airline website.
Sheikh Ahmed said the investigations are still ongoing, stressing “Our priority is now the health and safety of our passengers”.
Paul Griffiths told a press conference that work continued to restore normal traffic volumes at the airport, the world’s busiest hub for worldwide travel.
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Dubai’s civil aviation authorities on Thursday allowed arrivals and departures for all airliners again, but only on a step-by-step basis.
