Dubai, Abu Dhabi: Heavy rains, coupled with thunderbolt and lighting that hit the country from pre-dawn to early morning on Friday, has sent air traffic into a tailspin, causing delays in more than 100 flights, both inbound and outbound, Gulf News has learnt.
The inclement weather brought different intensities of rain that fell over scattered areas of the country, triggering a number of road accidents.
Between the 9am and noon on Friday, more than 100 flights out of Dubai were dalayed.
Another 30 or so inbound flights into Dubai were also delayed, including flights of flydubai from Prague, Virgin Atlantic from London, Air Astana from Almaty, Jet Airways from India, and Emirates from Islamabad, according to aviation tracking site, Flight-Tracker.
Furthermore, more than 20 flights into Dubai were delayed between 12noon to 3pm on Friday.
Abu Dhabi International Airport, the hub of Etihad Airways, saw numerous delays between 6 am and 9am for in-bound air traffic.
In a statement, an Etihad spokesperson said: "Abu Dhabi is currently experiencing unstable weather with multiple thunderstorm cells in the terminal area. As a result, ten flights had diverted to airports within the UAE and GCC this morning noting that they have commenced returning to Abu Dhabi. The airline is working to return the remainder as soon as possible.
"The airline will continue to closely monitor the weather situation in the UAE throughout the rest of the day. Any impacted guests are being informed of itinerary changes and assisted where possible to enable them to continue their journeys.
"Today is a peak travel morning with a school holiday period so we will be providing additional assistance at the airport to help our passengers.
"Guests are advised to contact the Etihad Airways Contact Centre on +971 (0) 2599 0000, or visit the Etihad Airways website at www.etihad.com for further updates.
" Etihad Airways apologises for any inconvenience caused but the safety and security of our passengers and staff is of the utmost importance."
