Passengers stranded at Dubai airport as flood disrupts operations 

Thousands of passengers are stranded and will face flight cancellations and multiple delays following that effects of heavy rain which affected the Dubai International Airport overnight

As at Sunday morning a total of 22 flights have been confirmed cancelled.

A Dubai International Airport (DXB) said on Sunday that some 22 flights were cancelled on Saturday night while one inbound flight was diverted to Al Maktoum International Airport.

These figures are from Saturday night only, as the total number of flights cancelled or delayed during the last two days due to rain and water logging will be announced later.

Passengers from Nigeria connecting to other destinations are stranded as some who are flying as far as the United States claim that there are no flights for them for the next couple of days.

Emirates flight into Lagos arrived over four hours late probably due to the delays from the situation from the airport and arriving at Dubai Airport, the situation is not encouraging to passengers.

A passenger connecting to North America, said,” It’s crazy out here, no flights for two to three days. The Nigerian flight came in five hours later; we are in Dubai but it’s a mess here. Connecting flight left since and the crowd I sent you has since tripled.”

Airport officials have advised passengers to arrive at the airport well in advance and always check flight status with their airlines.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson said that the Dubai Airport is now at the recovery mode, as the backlog of delayed flights are being cleared this morning.

In an earlier statement on Saturday by the spokesperson night, “Dubai Airports confirms that operations at the DXB continued to be hampered by the knock-on effects of waterlogging caused by heavy rainfall earlier today (Saturday) which has resulted in a number of flight delays, cancellations and diversions.

“We continue to work closely with our service partners to clear the backlog, restore full operations and minimize inconvenience to our customers.

“However, with additional rain expected later this evening, the disruption is expected to continue for the next 24 hours. Accordingly, customers are advised to check directly with their airlines for more specific flight information and allow additional time to get to the airport.”

IFEOMA OKEKE