Fog forces 98 flight diversions

Dubai: Scores of flights were delayed and hundreds of passengers left waiting when thick fog enveloped the UAE on Saturday morning.

The disruption lasted till evening at airports as staff worked to clear the backlog caused by the morning blanket of fog, which cut visibility to as little as 100 metres.

Most of the country was hit by the fog yesterday and there is likely to be more fog this morning.

A total of 98 inbound flights to Dubai were diverted to Muscat, Bahrain, Doha, Ras Al Khaimah, Al Ain and Fujairah after the fog developed from about 3am. Many outbound services were delayed.

About a third of the diverted inbound flights were services by Dubai-based Emirates airline.

Emirates spokeswoman Sarah Shaughnessy said yesterday evening that the airline was doing its best to restore operations to normal but she added that passengers were still being delayed.

"We're working as quickly as we can. It doesn't take just a few hours to restore operations after something like that," she said.

Abu Dhabi International Airport was closed from about midnight to around 2.30am, and then again from 7.45am to 10.45am.

Etihad Airways said seven flights due to land at Abu Dhabi between midnight and 3am had to be diverted elsewhere, with six flights going to Al Ain and one to Bahrain.

When the airport was hit by fog again between 7.45am and 11.45am, one inbound Etihad service was diverted to Doha and another was diverted to Al Ain. "From about 11am normal operations resumed," said a spokesman.

Knock-on effect

Four inbound flights to Abu Dhabi from other airlines were diverted to other airports, while two outgoing flights - a Gulf Air service to Bahrain and an Etihad flight to Bahrain -were cancelled.

The duty manager at Sharjah International Airport said between 10 and 15 inbound services were diverted to Muscat and Dubai during the morning.

He said that the delays to inbound services were causing many outbound flights to be delayed, with passengers suffering delays of "three to four hours, something like that".

"Still there are some flights that are coming in late," he said yesterday evening.

Chris Worger, Duty Forecaster at Dubai International Airport, said Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah and the other northern emirates were affected by the fog, while Al Ain and Fujairah largely escaped.

"The fog formed inland as usual but this time it moved over [to the coast]. There must have been some wind to move the fog from the inland area to the coast," he said.

Forecast: More hazy weather

Forecasters have warned that there is likely to be more fog this morning due to the current humid conditions.

"We're expecting fog again in the morning [on Sunday]," Worger said, adding that there has been fog for most days during the past week due to the humid conditions.

The maximum temperature in Dubai yesterday was 29C and the minimum temperature was 21C. Today, forecasters expect a maximum of 30C and a minimum of 22C.

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