Thousands of British travellers have endured a miserable night on a series of “flights to nowhere” after another Iranian drone strike shut down Dubai’s main airport, DXB.
The latest shutdown of the world’s busiest international airport was caused by a fresh drone attack launched by Iran against Dubai. A blaze began near the airport in the early hours of Monday.
At around 4am local time, Dubai Airports posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Flights at DXB are temporarily suspended as a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of all passengers and staff. Please contact your airlines for the latest flight updates.”
Six Emirates flights from UK airports were en route to Dubai when news of the closure emerged. One inbound flight from Heathrow, Emirates flight EK30, diverted to Dubai World Central – the second airport serving the metropolis.
Two flights from Heathrow, and one each from Gatwick, Manchester and Edinburgh, turned around and flew back to their starting points.
The Emirates flight from Edinburgh to Dubai, EK24, spent 11 hours airborne before returning to the Scottish capital. It had taken off from Edinburgh shortly after 8 pm, and had reached Egypt before the crew were ordered to return to the starting point.
Those on the Sunday night Emirates flight from London Stansted to Dubai endured a similar 11-hour flight that failed to reach the UAE.
Their aircraft was close to Dubai, but was turned back and ended up in Vienna at 8.30am local time on Monday. Flight EK68 is expected to continue to Dubai later in the day.
Under air passengers’ rights rules, travellers are entitled to be flown to their destination as soon as possible on any airline that has seats available.
But with a sharply reduced schedule of flights between the UK and the Middle East, rebooking passengers will prove difficult.
British travellers heading home from Asia and Australia are likely to face yet more problems. Air passengers’ rights rules do not apply for flights starting outside Europe for non-UK/EU airlines.
Emirates has resumed at scale ahead of rivals Etihad and Qatar Airways, but schedules are in disarray. Many intercontinental flights returned to their starting points, including inbound aircraft from Sydney, Melbourne, Bangkok and Hong Kong – all of which will have had significant numbers of British passengers on board.
In addition, some Emirates flights are on the ground in Europe, Africa and Asia rather than in the Middle East. Passengers from Toronto found themselves in Rome, while the flight from Dallas Fort Worth is in Milan. The Emirates flight from Accra landed in Addis Ababa.
Dubai international airport has now reopened with a reduced service. Many departing flights have been cancelled, which will also affect passengers in the UK due to travel out to Dubai on Monday night and into Tuesday.
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