Dubai: Abu Dhabi Airport was anticipating rolling delays on Monday after dense fog closed the airport earlier in the day.
Etihad Airways, the airport's main airline, said 44 of its flights were delayed by up to four hours on Monday morning with “several others cancelled.”
The airline said the airport's runway reopened at 6:10 am following unexpected dense fog rolling in just after midnight.
Twenty-one flights – 18 passenger planes and three freighters – were diverted to seven regional airports, the airline said, including to Al Ain Airport and Al Bateen Executive Airport in Abu Dhabi and Al Maktoum International at Dubai World Central (DWC).
The Abu Dhabi airline said it has deployed close to 100 additional staff to Abu Dhabi Airport to assist disrupted arriving and departing passengers.
“Etihad Airways is working to minimise disruption to its customers. However, delays are anticipated for the rest of the day,” the airline said in statement.
Normalisation within 24 hours
As of 6.41pm on Monday, the UAE flag carrier said it continued to restore its flight schedule, following serious disruptions caused by the fog closure of Abu Dhabi Airport in the morning, and expects "to resume normal operations within the next 24 hours".
Despite a number of delayed flights earlier on Monday, most passengers have either resumed their flights or been rebooked on other services.
Assistance has also been provided to passengers who missed their connecting flights with Etihad Airways or partner airlines.
“Passengers are advised to contact the Etihad Airways Contact Centre on +971 (0) 2599 0000 or visit the Etihad Airways website at www.etihad.com/flightstatus for more information on the status of flights in and out of Abu Dhabi Airport,” the airline said.
