It was a miserable start to 2017 for hundreds of airline passengers facing hours of delays in both Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the knock-on effect of New Year weather disruptions continue to be felt.
Flights in and out of the UAE were either delayed, rerouted or cancelled altogether as early morning fog and reduced flying visibility crippled airlines.
Flydubai was forced to cancel more than 70 flights, keeping an updated list on its Facebook page, while about 80 flights arriving into Abu Dhabi airport were delayed. The low-cost Dubai airline, which operates about 1,700 flights a week, did not rule out more cancellations too as it battles to get operations back up to speed.
Despite regular updates online, many Flydubai passengers reacted angrily as new year plans had to be scrapped.
On Facebook, Julia Grebniova, who lives in Abu Dhabi but was stranded on New Year’s Eve in Dubai, said: “Hundreds of passengers, a lot of them with kids, are stuck in the airport without any further information about their flights, exhausted and cannot go home.
“There is no staff in the terminal and nobody answers calls. Ridiculous.”
Another disgruntled passenger, Juliana July, said: “Early morning fog is not an unusual occurrence at this time of year in Dubai. This is one of the most appalling travel episodes I have ever had to experience.”
Julia Moore, from Oxfordshire in the UK, emailed Flydubai after being stranded at the airport for eight hours with two children when flight FZ025 was cancelled.
“We have had to leave the airport due to the needs of our young children and are so disappointed,” she said on social media.
Passengers were asked to contact their travel agent or the Flydubai customer centre to rebook seats on the next available flight. Those choosing to scrap plans altogether were offered a full refund.
A Flydubai spokesman said: “The safety of our passengers and crew remains our first priority as we continue to monitor the situation closely and follow the advice of the relevant authorities.
“We understand the frustrations of our affected passengers and sincerely apologise for the delay in getting them to where they need to be during this busy holiday season.
“Although the cause of the disruption is beyond our control, we are deploying all resources available to us to minimise the impact of these severe weather conditions on our schedules.
“Our teams, and the teams on the ground at airports here in Dubai and across the region, are working around the clock to assist all of those affected and to get operations back to normal as soon as possible.”
Poor weather conditions have plagued the region since Wednesday morning and are expected to continue over the next few days, according to the national weather bureau.
Heavy fog has caused reduced visibility, below 100 metres in places, which has had a significant effect on operations at both Dubai International and Al Maktoum International.
Abu Dhabi Airports confirmed three flights were diverted to other regional airports at the request of the concerned airlines. Two of them because the pilots were not certified to land in such weather conditions and one due to a technical issue.
Other airlines also experienced delays.
Emirates flights arriving in the early hours of New Year’s Day were delayed by about two hours, while hundreds of Qantas passengers were stranded in Dubai en-route to Australia after engineers were called in to work on the scheduled A380 aircraft.
Many were forced to stay overnight in hotels.
A Dubai Airports spokesperson said that as a result of relatively better weather conditions overnight and Sunday morning, no flights were diverted or cancelled at Dubai International today.
“Operations at DXB however continue to be in recovery mode with Dubai Airports focusing on clearing the backlog of flights disrupted due to weather conditions persisting since December 28.
“The comfort of all passengers is our top priority and Dubai Airports is working very hard with airlines and stakeholders to minimise inconvenience and normalise operations as quickly as possible.”
Passengers were requested to check the status of their flights online before heading to the airport.
The UAE’s National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology issued a fog warning on Saturday morning due to high humidity and falling temperatures.
Morning fog is likely to continue into Monday, with drivers warned to take extra care on the roads and airline travellers encouraged to check on delays before heading to airports.
nwebster@thenational.ae
hdajani@thenational.ae
