UPDATED: Dubai International Airport has reopened after yesterday’s dramatic crash landing of an Emirates passenger airliner (EK521) which miraculously saw 282 passengers and 18 crew members evacuated safely – before the aircraft burst into flames.

Tragically, the authorities have since reported that one brave firefighter has died, naming Jasim Eisa Al Baloushi, a Civil Defence force worker. More happily, there has also been very strong praise for the courage and professionalism of the pilots, cabin crew and emergency response workers after they evacuated all of the passengers from the aircraft prior to fire breaking out.

 

As reported, the incident led to the airport closing for several hours yesterday after the aircraft landed en route from Thiruvananthapuram at around 12.45 local time.

Several flights have since been cancelled or delayed due to the incident, with Emirates reporting that it is still in ‘recovery mode’ as far as its normal scheduling is concerned.

HH Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Emirates’ Chairman & CEO said in a press conference that the airline is now cooperating fully with the authorities to try and determine exactly what caused the incident.

He also took the time to thank everyone for all of the support they have shown during this difficult period, while apologising for the inconvenience caused.

 

OPERATIONAL STATUS REPORT

Meanwhile, Dubai Airports has confirmed that a total of 116 arriving and 121 departing flights were cancelled and a total of 44 inbound flights were diverted to neighbouring airports following the incident yesterday (Wednesday). The disruption of normal operations yesterday affected a total of 19,000 passengers before DXB resumed operations under restricted capacity at 1830hrs.

 

Dubai Airports added: “Dubai International Airport continues to operate with one runway with higher priority for arriving flights and wide-bodied aircraft to maximise the utilisation of available capacity and ease congestion inside the terminals. The airport is expected to be on recovery mode for the next 48 hours with efforts in full swing to clear backlogged flights.”