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Flights to Dubai have been suspended after a drone strike sparked a fire near the airport.
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“Please do not travel to the airport,” Emirates said in a note to passengers.
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This is the latest development in a challenging fortnight for air travel in Dubai.
Air travel in Dubai is working hard to return to normal.
In the early hours of Monday morning, the Dubai Media Office said in a series of X posts that “a drone incident occurred near Dubai International Airport (DXB)” and hit a fuel tank, causing a fire.
At around 5:10 a.m. local time, the office said the fire was under control and no casualties were reported.
However, the incident appears to have triggered a new wave of travel chaos and flight disruptions. Soon after, DXB said in an X post that all flights were suspended “as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all passengers and staff.”
Emirates later said on X, “All flights to and from Dubai have been suspended, please do not travel to the airport.”
Dubai Airports, which represents Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai’s smaller Al Maktoum International Airport, said some flights have been diverted from Dubai International Airport (DXB) to Al Maktoum International Airport.
Flight tracking website FlightRadar24 also posted information about the incident on X, saying the flight already in Dubai airspace was heading to Al Maktoum instead of DXB. It also shows a flight map of Emirates flights from the UK and India to Dubai that are turning around and returning to their departure airports.
This is the latest development after a challenging few weeks for air travel in Dubai. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. Iran subsequently carried out retaliatory attacks on U.S. military bases and embassies in the Gulf region, and the airspace of the United Arab Emirates was disrupted.
DXB has been hit by drone strikes and falling debris over the past two weeks, leading to the cancellation of thousands of flights in and out of the airport.
Emirates had been trying to resume some operations but later suspended them. Other airlines, including British Airways, said they would cancel flights to and from Middle Eastern cities including Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv until later this month.
Read the original article on Business Insider
