Flight delays persist after Emirates crash-landing at Dubai airport

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Delays and flight cancellations persisted Thursday at Dubai International Airport, a day after an Emirates airliner suffered a crash-landing that saw all 300 people onboard survive while a firefighter was killed.

The cause of the crash-landing of Flight No. EK521, a Boeing 777-300 coming from the southern Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram, also remained unclear.

The world’s busiest international airport issued a statement saying that it is running “under restricted capacity and has since continued to operate with one runway.” It said some flights were coming into the city-state’s second airport, Al Maktoum International Airport at Dubai World Central.

Several Emirates flights, as well as others from foreign carriers landing at the hub, were cancelled Thursday. FlyDubai, the sheikhdom’s low-cost carrier, said it had cancelled 20 flights.

Emirates said that 157 of the 282 passengers aboard Flight EK521 stayed in Dubai following the accident, while the rest stayed in transit at the airport. The airline is covering hotels for 13 transit passengers who chose to stay a few days in Dubai.

Five passengers who suffered minor injuries were taken to local hospitals, the airline said. A cabin crew member was hospitalized and was expected to be released Thursday.

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Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, Emirates’ chairman and CEO, has met with all of the crew members involved, the airline said.

The airline cancelled 27 flights Wednesday because of the accident and delayed and rescheduled others, affecting travel plans for 23,000 passengers. It diverted 23 incoming flights to Dubai’s second airport, other Emirati airports in Sharjah, Al Ain and Fujairah, and airports in nearby Oman and Bahrain.

It is letting passengers affected by the disruptions cancel or rebook their tickets for free.

The airline refused for a second day to provide details on what caused the crash and what the circumstances were immediately before it hit the ground.

A problem with the landing gear appeared to have contributed to the accident, with images of the smoking plane showing it coming to rest on its belly. Emirates declined to confirm whether the landing gear had been successfully deployed.

Winds of 39 kilometres an hour (24 mph) blew toward the northwest at the airfield at the time of the crash-landing, according to the United Arab Emirates’ National Center for Meteorology and Seismology. There also were reports of wind shear, a sudden downdraft encountered by aircraft that can be dangerous, especially for planes near the ground.

The United Arab Emirates’ General Civil Aviation Authority, which investigates all plane crashes, issued a statement Thursday on the state-run WAM news agency saying that work was underway “to recover the flight data recorder … and the cockpit voice recorder.” Officials there could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile Thursday, mourners in the emirate of Ras al-Khaimah buried the body of firefighter Jassim al-Balooshi, who was killed responding to the crash-landing.