Eid Al Fitr: Emirates adds flights to Gulf destinations to meet increased demand

More than 371,000 passengers are expected to fly with the airline during the holidays

Emirates has announced additional flights to its Gulf destinations for Eid Al Fitr. Photo: Emirates

Emirates has announced 17 additional flights to destinations in the Middle East to meet demand during the Eid Al Fitr holidays.

More than 371,000 passengers are expected to fly with the Dubai airline between March 26 and April 6.

Residents in the Gulf are expected to get up to four days of paid leave for Eid Al Fitr, with the festival expected to start on Monday, March 31, depending on when the Shawwal moon is sighted. Eid Al Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, coincides with the start of the Shawwal, the 10th month of the Islamic calendar. The exact start date of Shawwal will be determined in the final days of the holy month.

Emirates is adding six flights to and from Amman, and another five flights between Dammam and Dubai. The airline will be running an extra four flights from Jeddah and the airline’s schedule from Kuwait will extend to another two services.

More than 80,000 daily passengers are expected to travel through Terminal 3 on March 28-29 and April 5-6. Photo: Dubai Airports

During the holidays, Emirates will also be serving a special Eid menu across all travel classes on select flights to and from Dubai. The menu will include traditional favourites chicken madhbi; prawn matfi; chicken makloubeh; mixed grills such as chicken shish taouk and lamb kofta; halwa brownie; and pistachio cake.

Last week, Emirates predicted more than 80,000 passengers a day would to travel through its dedicated Terminal 3 at Dubai International on March 28-29 and April 5-6 – the busiest dates of the Eid Al Fitr holiday.

The airline advised passengers to arrive at the airport up to three hours before departure and take note of boarding times to ensure they reach the gate on time. To speed up the check-in process, Emirates is encouraging travellers to use facilities such as online check-in and city check-in. Passengers can drop off luggage at the airport the night before travel at no charge; or check-in early and drop off their bags 24 hours before departure, or 12 hours before departure if flying to the US.

The airline said passport control and security should be cleared 90 minutes before departure and is advising passengers to reach their gate no later than an hour before their flight if booked in premium economy or economy class, and 45 minutes before if in first or business class.