PIA suspends flights to Dubai, Sharjah as heavy rains return to UAE

Published May 2, 2024
Thick clouds fill the sky above the Burj Al-Arab tower in Dubai on May 2 as heavy rains returned to the United Arab Emirates. — AFP
Thick clouds fill the sky above the Burj Al-Arab tower in Dubai on May 2 as heavy rains returned to the United Arab Emirates. — AFP

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) on Thursday announced that flight operations to Dubai and Sharjah would remain suspended due to the return of severe weather conditions that lashed the United Arab Emirates last month.

Schools and many offices were closed across the UAE as heavy rains returned just two weeks after record downpours that experts linked to climate change.

A lightning storm with high winds swept across the oil-rich monarchy overnight, with more than 50 millimetres of rain falling before 8am in some areas, the National Centre of Meteorology said. Flooding was seen in some parts of Dubai and the city’s airport.

The airport, the world’s busiest in terms of international passenger traffic, cancelled 13 flights and diverted five, a spokesperson said.

A statement from the PIA spokesperson said that flight operations for Dubai and Sharjah were “severely affected” due to the rains, adding that flights of the national carrier and other airlines would “remain suspended for the time being”.

It said that some PIA flights were facing delays and cancellations due to the bad weather.

“PIA is very conscious of its troubling its passengers. PIA will renew its air operations immediately as soon as the situation improves.”

Meanwhile, UAE state carrier Emirates and sister airline flydubai both warned passengers of delays, as schools switched to remote learning and public-sector offices closed.

But the rains were not on the scale of April 16, when a record 259.5 mm of rain left four people dead, blocked major roads for days and forced the cancellation of more than 2,000 flights.

Little traffic was seen on Dubai’s normally heaving, six-lane highways today and cars were abandoned on flooded roads near the sprawling Ibn Battuta Mall.

Trucks pumping water were stationed in several flooded areas, as Dubai’s drainage is unable to cope with large-scale rainfall.

Last month’s downpour, which also killed 21 people in neighbouring Oman, was the heaviest in the UAE since records began in 1949.

World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists that assesses the role of climate change in extreme weather events, found the deluge was “most likely” exacerbated by global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.

Opinion

Editorial

Border clashes
19 May, 2024

Border clashes

THE Pakistan-Afghanistan frontier has witnessed another series of flare-ups, this time in the Kurram tribal district...
Penalising the dutiful
19 May, 2024

Penalising the dutiful

DOES the government feel no remorse in burdening honest citizens with the cost of its own ineptitude? With the ...
Students in Kyrgyzstan
Updated 19 May, 2024

Students in Kyrgyzstan

The govt ought to take a direct approach comprising convincing communication with the students and Kyrgyz authorities.
Ominous demands
Updated 18 May, 2024

Ominous demands

The federal government needs to boost its revenues to reduce future borrowing and pay back its existing debt.
Property leaks
18 May, 2024

Property leaks

THE leaked Dubai property data reported on by media organisations around the world earlier this week seems to have...
Heat warnings
18 May, 2024

Heat warnings

STARTING next week, the country must brace for brutal heatwaves. The NDMA warns of severe conditions with...