Dubai International Airport had just one of two runways in operation Thursday, disrupting international traffic at one of the world’s busiest airports for a second day after an Emirates Airline plane caught fire upon landing there.
The airport stopped flights entirely for almost six hours following the accident. It resumed operations at 6:30 p.m. local time Wednesday on a restricted basis, according to Dubai Airports, which manages the facility.
Capacity was still restricted as of Thursday morning local time, Dubai Airports said in a statement. Authorities were maximizing the use of the runway at Dubai World Central, another airport on the other side of the city, to smooth delays, the company said.
The partial suspension of operations at Dubai International, a major hub for Europe-Asia travel, could cause wider-spread travel delays if it were prolonged.
Emirates, the world’s biggest airline by international traffic, said it canceled 27 flights on Wednesday, and other flights were delayed or rescheduled. Another 23 were diverted to other regional airports, including in the U.A.E., Oman and Bahrain. More than 23,000 Emirates passengers were affected, it said.
Flight disruptions were expected for a further 36 hours, Emirates said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
A Boeing 777 operated by Emirates, a Dubai government-owned carrier, caught fire after skidding to a halt on its belly Wednesday afternoon. Fire crews quickly brought the flames under control, but one firefighter died in the process. A few of the 300 passengers and crew on the plane were injured, but there were no fatalities.
Aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirates, where Dubai is located, said they would lead up an investigation into the accident alongside representatives of the U.S., where the plane was manufactured, and the U.K., where its engines were built.
Boeing and Rolls-Royce, the engine-maker, would also act as advisers in the investigation, the U.A.E.’s General Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
Work was under way to recover the plane’s flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, which would be sent to a lab in nearby Abu Dhabi for analysis, it said, adding that the wreckage would be moved to a secure location. A preliminary report is expected within a month.
Dubai authorities haven’t revealed what caused the accident, but Emirates chairmanSheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum said Wednesday that wind shear—a downdraft or sudden change in wind speed or direction close to the ground—may have led the pilots to abort a landing. The plane’s landing gear was retracted in a verified video showing the plane skidding to a halt on the runway.
The last notable incident involving an Emirates plane was in March 2009: An Airbus Group SE A340 hit its tail on takeoff from Melbourne, with no fatalities. Emirates is also the biggest operator of Boeing’s 777 aircraft.
By: Asa Fitch and Nikhil Lohade (The Wall Street Journal).
Photo: Bangkok Post.
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