Regular Emirates Airlines flights return to normal
Dubai, April 20 / WAM / Tim Clark, President of Emirates Airlines, stated that as of this morning, all of their regular flights have returned to normal, as have the reservations of passengers who were in the transit area of the airport, and they are now on their way to their destinations.
According to Clark, the tanker formed a work team to sort, collect and deliver about 30,000 pieces of luggage to their owners.
He explained that in light of these circumstances, it will take a few days to fully address some of the repercussions of this exceptional situation.
He stated that this week was one of the most difficult times for Emirates Airlines operations, after the UAE was exposed to an unprecedented weather condition.
He apologized to all customers who were affected by these circumstances and whose travel plans were disrupted during this time.
He said that on April 16, a severe storm struck the UAE, causing heavy rains at a record rate, the highest in 75 years, which affected various aspects of life in various regions. Our main center in Dubai remained open around the clock, with flight traffic reduced to preserve safety. Safety, however, the water that flooded the roads hindered the ability of our customers, pilots, crew members and ground staff to reach the airport, in addition to its extended impact on the movement of essential supplies, such as meals and other requirements for flights.”
He continued, saying that to limit the repercussions of the bad weather conditions on Tuesday, we diverted dozens of flights, and over the next three days we were forced to cancel about 400 flights and postpone many other flights, while our operations at the main center continued to be affected due to the lack of employees and supplies.
He explained that the priorities were focused on two main pillars, caring for customers whose travel plans were affected, and restoring operations to normal.
He pointed out that, as part of their efforts to achieve their priorities by providing resources and the ability to deal with affected customers, they were forced to take temporary measures, which included suspending the completion of passenger procedures from Dubai, stopping ticket sales, and suspending connecting flights coming to Dubai through their network of destinations.
He said, “We have provided more additional resources to help our teams at the airport and call centers in reconfirming reservations, and we have launched additional flights to destinations where we have identified large numbers of affected customers.”
He reported that more than 100 volunteers from their employees participated in caring for affected customers in the departure halls of Dubai Airport and in the transit area, with priority given to medical cases, the elderly, and other most affected travelers.
He pointed out that so far, more than 12,000 hotel rooms have been secured to accommodate affected customers in Dubai, and more than 250,000 meal vouchers have been provided, in addition to large quantities of drinking water, blankets and other supplies.
Behind the scenes, thousands of our employees across all departments have made maximum efforts to get our operations back on track,” he said.
He said that we are fully aware that our response was not ideal, and we understand the frustration that befell our customers due to crowding, lack of information, and confusion at the stations. We also acknowledge that the queues and long waiting times were unacceptable. We affirm our commitment to providing distinguished services to our customers, as we have benefited from the experiences that We’ve been going through it over the past few days working to get things right and improve our operations.
He praised the efforts of the team in all divisions of the carrier, suppliers and partners for their tireless efforts around the clock this week, despite the difficult circumstances, to support customers and return operations and regular flights to normal.
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