Business | Aviation
Visitors caught in bottleneck
Organisers of the Dubai Air Show 2005 have advised visitors to take cabs to the landmark event after some people attending said they suffered "a traffic nightmare" when trying to drive in.
- By Daniel Bardsley, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 November 21, 2005
Organisers of the Dubai Air Show 2005 have advised visitors to take cabs to the landmark event after some people attending said they suffered "a traffic nightmare" when trying to drive in.
 Sankha Kar/Gulf News A jet engine dwarfs the crowd of officials and media personnel as they watch displays by some of the latest offerings of key aeronautical companies in a day of major deals at the Dubai Airport Expo. |
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One female visitor, a public relations worker who asked not to be named, said her experience in trying to get in and out of the show was "terrible".
"It took me one-and-a-quarter hours to get inside the air show area from Lamcy Plaza, and when I got there the parking was full. I was forced to park my car at the airport and take a cab," she said.
She said the main traffic bottleneck was the flyover that takes motorists into the air show's parking lot.
"When I came to leave later in the afternoon, there were 200 or 300 people waiting for cabs but no drivers to take them. Getting out proved to be very difficult. I was expecting it to be bad but I didn't expect there to be a lack of taxis."
Another visitor, a man who drove in yesterday morning, said: "It was a traffic nightmare and it took me more than an hour to get there."
He added that the road network in the area was "totally different" from what it was during the last show in 2003 and many drivers were getting lost.
Sony Elias, a spokesman for the organisers, said car parking at the show was "limited" because of a lack of space.
"It is probably best to come to the venue in a cab," he said.
He added that for those who had come by cab, things were "pretty OK" and most people had not experienced serious problems reaching the event, which has already stolen the headlines thanks to big aircraft orders announced by Emirates.
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