Emirates acknowledges response to storm disruption ‘far from perfect’  

In an open letter to passengers, Sir Tim Clark, Emirates president, has acknowledged the impact the record storms in the United Arab Emirates has had on customers; noting that “this week has been one of the toughest for Emirates operationally”. As the UAE experienced its highest rainfall levels in 75 years, with “lashing storm winds and rain” disrupting activity, the carrier was forced to cancel nearly 400 flights and delay “many more” as its operations remained challenged by safety considerations alongside staffing and supply shortages. Subsequently, ticket sales were paused, check-in for passengers departing Dubai was suspended, and connecting passenger traffic was temporarily halted. Voicing their frustrations on social media, some disrupted passengers alleged delays of up to three days spent at the airport awaiting a flight. As well as deploying additional resources and customer service personnel to assist those stranded (including booking over 12,000 hotel rooms in Dubai), Emirates also added additional flights to “destinations where [the airline] identified large numbers of displaced customers”, he added. Although regular flight schedules were restored as of 20 April, with passengers previously stranded in the airport transit area now rebooked, the airline adds it will take “some more days” to clear the backlog of rebooked passengers and the some 30,000 pieces of left-behind luggage. “We know our response has been far from perfect. We acknowledge and understand the frustration of our customers due to the congestion, lack of information, and confusion in the terminals. We acknowledge that the long queues and wait times have been unacceptable,” concluded Clark. Dubai Airports, which owns and manages the operation of Dubai International Airport (DBX),  confirmed on social media that 31 flights were diverted to Dubai World Central due to the ‘unprecedented’ weather conditions. Recognising that the difficult situation has “been the most challenging for our guests who’ve had to spend much longer than they expected at our terminals,” DBX’s team of ground staff and volunteers also “worked tirelessly around the clock to deliver more than 73,000 packs of snacks and water”.