[FrequentPR]

Once again, EK schedules at DXB – its hub – are badly affected by weather, with the cause apparently being lightning and rain.

This joint seems to have outgrown itself.

Far more pleasant and efficient to travel through any one of numerous airports in Asia – my favourites include ICN and because of the great beaches an hour’s flight away, MNL, but there are heaps of choices.

EK’s market share to and from Australia is starting to drop a bit as the mainland Chinese airlines make their presence felt (although how sustainable the Chinese outwards tourism boom is could be questioned.)

To me DXB is a fourth class copy of SIN. Fail.

[AMcWhirter]

Qantas was caught up in the disruption yesterday (March 25).

Its A380 flight coming from Australia was unable to land in Dubai so was diverted to Muscat.

Flight crew then ran ‘out of hours’ so the flight couldn’t continue to London.

It meant QF2, which should have departed Heathrow at 2030 hrs on Saturday was cancelled.

[FrequentPR]

And while QF passengers suffer long delays because of diversions, EK passengers on routes like Bankok to Sydney experience three or four hour delays because of the aircraft being unable to take off from DXB at anything close to time.

This is extremely rare through SIN, ICN, NRT or HND and even MNL (which is very busy) manages to get planes in the air better than DXB can often manage to achieve.

[thebigseats]

Erm, these current delays at DXB are weather related – hardly a “fail” on the part of DXB – big LOL.

[FDOS_UK]

I’m no big fan of the shopping mall with two runways, but compared to Heathrow and snow, it’s no contest.

Having arrived into AUH late last night, the weather was poor, with convective activity and a strong cross-wind.

The weather pattern has been unusually unsettled in the UAE this year, to date. I’m on my 5th visit and it’s been like a prolonged change of seasons spell.

[thebigseats]

Yes, i agree – its the worst prolonged unsettled weather I have ever seen in UAE.
Cloud seeding apparently! LOL.

[FDOS_UK]

Apparently so, yet I understand that the best time of year for this is summer – so might just be unusual weather patterns makig the seeding more effective.

[LuganoPirate]

I came through Dubai a week ago and was surprised when it started to rain. We were 30 minutes late taking off as a result.

[UAEScot1]

I was on BA73 leaving LHR on Friday Morning, Emergency landing into Frankfurt followed by an aircraft change after a new B787 and crew arrived from London. We then diverted to MCT due to AUH being closed due to weather with our crew running out of hours.

We were given hotels although when rows 1-7 (me as well) arrived at the hotel we were designated they had no rooms due to the outbound BA080 going technical !!!

Eventually got a room at another hotel and were advised that we would be rebooked at 2335 on to KLM form MCT to AUH……… Myself and three others turned up at airport at 7pm and argued the case until we were booked onto Oman Air at 2020, Oman advised they had sent partially empty aircraft all day to AUH.
Eventually arrived home in Abu Dhabi almost 24 hours late!!
Oh and the storms through the night last night again were awesome!!! worst weather in many years of being here.

[FDOS_UK]

[quote quote=797470] onto Oman Air at 2020, Oman advised they had sent partially empty aircraft all day to AUH.

Eventually arrived home in Abu Dhabi almost 24 hours late!!
Oh and the storms through the night last night again were awesome!!! worst weather in many years of being here.

[/quote]

Gosh, you had a rough journey 🙁

I’m in Dubai Marina this week and agree the lightning show in the early hours was spectacular.

Looks a little dodgy now (4pm local).

[TimFitzgeraldTC]

London City always gets hit by fog, Leeds by high winds, New York / Chicago / Boston by snow, Heathrow by a multitude of things, CDG by strikes, Istanbul by weather.

Fly via HK in the summer and you may get hit by Cyclones along with Taipei and other cities in the region.

Anywhere can get hit. I’ve had numerous people affected this year all over the world with incidents caused by weather and other issues. To have a pop at Dubai specifically seems unnecessary. One of those things that can happen and area as others have posted seems to be having unusual weather patterns.

[AnthonyDunn]

Hi Tim,

Passing through HEL en route to TLL last weekend and we arrived (after the most abrupt fly-around I’ve ever experienced) into a snow shower. With 4-5cm of slushy snow, it was quite impressive how Finnair/Helsinki ordinarily managed a situation that would, in all probability, have reduced LHR to a grinding halt.

Outbound to TLL, with a light blizzard blowing, there is a designated de-icing area just before the runway threshold with separate lanes for the Embraers/B737/A320 types (two de-icers, one for each side of the aircraft) and a separate lane for the heavies. The latter has four separate de-icers, one for each wing/forward fuselage and two for the tail fin and rear fuselage area. Efficient and effective. I don’t ever recall having been de-iced before so this was a first.

[Author]

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