Dubai Airport Struggles To Recover From Storms: CEO Expects To Be Fully Operational in 24 Hours

After being impacted by the heaviest rainfall ever recorded for the region, Dubai International Airport is still struggling to return to normal operations.

Dubai Airports CEO Paul Griffiths predicted today that the airport will be “close to normality” within 24 hours, according to an interview with CNBC’s Capital Connection.

Residents and businesses throughout the United Arab Emirates were impacted by the historic floods and grappled with disruptions to operations.

"We've never seen anything like this," Griffiths said during the Friday interview. ”We hope that within the next 24 hours, there'll be a very significant improvement back towards the schedule that we can say is very close to normality.”

The company that owns Dubai International Airport also approved an emergency budget to provide food and water to passengers who have been stranded at the facility. In addition, retail outlets located within the airport are now operating again.

The rains that impacted the airport, which is one of the busiest in the world, hit the region two days ago. Amid the storm, flights were canceled, and thousands of travelers remained stranded at the airport.

Griffiths said that flights finally began to resume yesterday. However, the airport is still not fully operational as some restrictions remain, including for arriving flights.

As of midday today, the airport was still temporarily limiting the number of inbound flights and planned to continue doing so for 48 hours.

"I'm personally in contact with all the management of the various airlines that serve DXB [Dubai International Airport], and we are trying to get more and more flights by each hour away," Griffiths said.

"We put flow restrictions on arrivals, so that we're not taking more aircraft and we can accommodate every single stand, and every single facility at the airport is actually fully operational," he added.

Airport officials also advise travelers to check with their airlines before going to Dubai’s airport to verify whether a flight is still planning to operate and whether it will operate on time.

Last year, almost 87 million people passed through Dubai International Airport, solidifying its status as one of the world's busiest international travel hubs.

---

For the latest travel news, updates and deals, subscribe to the daily TravelPulse newsletter.

Topics From This Article to Explore