Dubai: Flights operating from the Gulf to the US have been hit by delays and cancellations due to a major winter storm.
Emirates airline on Thursday cancelled two flights connecting Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with Dubai. The Eastern states of the US have recorded heavy snowfall and below-freezing temperatures because of a nor’easter. Airlines cancelled hundreds of flights ahead of the storm.
A Qatar Airways flight (QR 702) from New York JFK Airport to Doha was delayed by over 30 minutes – the airplane will land in the Qatari capital at 6:15pm. An Etihad Airways flight (EY 101) from Abu Dhabi to New York will reach the US city about 20 minutes late. “Flight to the US are operating as normal,” said an Etihad spokesperson.
It was not immediately clear if the delays were due to the bad weather. “The airlines will wait until the last moment – they will only cancel once the situation gets out of hand,” said a Dubai-based travel agent. “Airlines will be closely monitoring the weather forecast for the rest of the day and tomorrow.”
In total, there were 15,820 flight cancellations worldwide this week and roughly half of them were US-related. During the same period, Dubai International Airport (DXB) saw eight flight cancellations; Abu Dhabi had none, according to flight tracking website Flight Aware.
Not the first time
In late December, thousands of flights were getting cancelled as US airlines grappled with severe staff shortages due to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant. Gulf airlines did not face the same issue due to fewer cases at that point of time and additional measures taken by the carriers to reduce the crew’s risk of exposure to the virus.
Last month, Emirates airline announced the suspension of flights to certain US airports due to 5G deployment by major network services providers. From January 21 onwards, the carrier reinstated its Boeing 777 operations to Chicago, Dallas Fort Worth, Miami, Newark, Orlando and Seattle.
A tough phase
For airlines – still reeling from the impact of a two-year pandemic - these constant disruptions will further pile on to their problems. According to some estimates, airlines lost roughly $48 billion last year. “We’re ending the year generally in better shape than we started the year - going into 2022, there will be a short-term impact as a result of government restrictions in response to the Omicron variant that we’ve seen since the end of November,” said Willie Walsh, IATA’s Director General, during a media briefing last week.
“More governments are reviewing those restrictions and we’re pleased to see that some if not all of those are beginning to be relaxed or removed.”
