Morning fog disrupts traffic at Abu Dhabi airport

Dubai: Delays are anticipated for flights throughout  Saturday at Abu Dhabi International Airport following around one hour suspension of operations  early morning due to dense fog. Passengers are advised to contact their respective airlines for an update on their flights, Abu Dhabi Airports Company  (ADAC) said in a statement on Saturday.

The airport started witnessing low visibility below 200 metres since 1.00am  Saturday morning that continued till 10:00am.  Throughout this time the airport continued operation with low visibility. Within this period low visibility dropped to below 100 metres for one hour and the operations were suspended from 2:30am  to 3:40am as per the standards and guidelines being followed during  such conditions.

The operations were back on track by 10.00 am when visibility returned to normal, the statement said.

Passengers said they had a tough time due to flight delays. “I have to wait for another three  hours to get my flight,” Imad Allam, 30, an Egyptian Engineer flying to Egypt, said.  His flight originally scheduled at 1.45pm was expected to take off by 4.50pm only.

Etihad updates statement

"Etihad Airways will restructure its flight schedule for tonight to enable the airline to recover from operational disruption caused by this morning’s severe fog at Abu Dhabi Airport.

These plans include the deferral of some flights into Abu Dhabi this evening, Saturday 3 January, and tomorrow morning, Sunday 4 January.

A comprehensive list of revised flight times will be published by 5pm today, local time.

Flight EY11, an Airbus A380 service from Abu Dhabi to London Heathrow, has already been rescheduled to depart at 1am on Sunday 4 January, rather than its usual time of 2.35am."

 "Etihad Airways is also urging any passengers who can defer their travel to, from, or through Abu Dhabi, up to and including Tuesday 6 January, to rebook flights through its global contact centres (details of which can be found at etihad.com/contacts).

The airline is waiving normal cancellation and refund fees during this period.

Etihad Airways continues to deploy support staff to Abu Dhabi Airport to assist passengers and the airline is working to relieve the situation."
 

Etihad passengers should call +971 (0) 25990000 or visit www.etihad.com/flightstatus for more information on the status of their flights.