New Delhi, 14 April 2014

Several flights to Dubai would be affected for 80 days from May one due to closure of two runways there for upgrade, with Jet Airways and Air India Express announcing shifting of most of their flights to neighbouring Sharjah and revising timings for some operations. Indigo and Dubai-based Emirates also said they would slash some of their flights between India and the UAE city.

“With partial runway closure at Dubai airport from May one to July 20, flights between Dubai and Amritsar, Lucknow, Trichy, Jaipur and Pune will operate to and from Sharjah,” Air India Express said today. Similarly, Jet Airways would operate some flights with a revised timing during this period to and from Sharjah. It assured its passengers that there would be no cancellation of any of its listed flights, a Jet spokesperson said.

Some of Jet’s flights to and from Mangalore, Mumbai and Delhi would operate to Sharjah, though the private carrier would fly to Dubai from Mumbai (9W 538) on Sundays. Both Jet and Air India Express have advised customers to check their websites for detailed flight timings.

A report in a Dubai daily said eight airlines, including Jet Airways have applied for slots at Al Maktoum International – Dubai’s second airport – during the runway closure. IndiGo would also curtail some of its flights from Delhi and Mumbai to Dubai temporarily, while Dubai-based Emirates Airline would also temporarily reduce flights to Delhi and Bangalore.

An IndiGo spokesperson said the airline would operate 37 weekly flights from six Indian cities to Dubai International airport from 56 weekly flights at present. In a statement, Dubai Airports said all systems would undergo a comprehensive runway upgrade during the period.

The work would last 80 days during which the runways would be closed alternatively – the southern runway from May one to May 31 and the northern runway from May 31 to July 20. The number of flights at Dubai International is likely to be reduced by 26 per cent during the repair.