Flight disruption continues after Emirates crash-landing

Flights to and from Dubai International Airport continue to be disrupted after an incident yesterday when an Emirates flight with 282 passengers, including 24 Britons, crash-landed on the runway and caught fire.

A member of the airport’s fire fighting team was killed while tackling the blaze.

Flights were suspended for most of Wednesday afternoon until the airport re-opened with just one runway at 6.30pm local time, but only for arrivals. Priorty was given to larger aircraft.

The latest statement from the airport said due to reduced capacity it is still having to prioritise arriving and departing flights to make the best use of available runway to clear the backlog.

"Dubai Airports apologises to all our passengers for the inconvenience resulting from the disruption and would like to assure them that we are doing everything in our capacity to ease their journey," it said.

It urged passengers to check with their airlines for updated flight times before leaving for the airport.

Passengers waiting for flights are being provided free refreshments and water at all airport food outlets and also free unlimited Wi-Fi so they can stay in touch with family and friends.

Dubai Airports said it is working with the General Directorate of Residency and Foreigner Affairs (immigration) and Dubai Police to assist passengers with issues relating to visa expiry and lost passports.

Additional shuttle buses have also been deployed to ease the movement of passengers between the terminals.

Flight EK521 was flying from Trivandrum in India to Dubai and was due to land in Dubai International Airport at 12.50pm. The Boeing 777 crashed onto the runway and images on social media showed smoke pouring from the fuselage.

Emirates said all 282 passengers and 18 crew were safe. The passenger list included around 20 nationalties, including 24 Britons. The majority were from India.

A dedicated UK phone line  – 020 345 08853 –  has been set up for family of the passengers.

The ‘operational incident’ led to network-wide delays, but other airlines’ flights were also suspended.

By early afternoon UK time, Emirates had cancelled 21 flights to and from Dubai International. Other flights were diverted to nearby airports, including Dubai World Central, Sharjah, Ali Ain, Muscat, Bahrain and Fujairah

As Dubai is a major international hub for flights to the Indian Ocean and Australasia, this incident is also likely to cause disruption to long-haul flights to and from the UK.

Paul Griffiths, CEO of Dubai Airport, said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the incident and said the airport was doing all it could to support the family of the firefighter who lost his life, and others affected by the incident.