Flights to and from Dubai International Airport (DXB) have gradually resumed following a temporary suspension of operations as a precautionary measure due to a fire resulting from a “drone-related incident” on Monday morning.
Dozens of flights were diverted or cancelled at DXB, with some aircraft rerouted to Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC).
In a post on X shortly after 4am, Dubai Media Office said authorities are “currently responding to a fire resulting from a drone-related incident in the vicinity of Dubai International Airport”.
No injuries have been reported and the situation is under control, authorities said.
Dubai Media Office announced the suspension of DXB flights at 6.30am.
Emirates said it planned to operate a limited schedule after 10am on Monday. “Unfortunately, some flights from today’s schedule have been cancelled. Affected customers will receive a cancellation notice and will be advised on reaccommodation options. We apologise for the inconvenience caused,” the airline said on its website.
Diverted flights that had been scheduled to land at DXB include Emirates' EK307 from Beijing, EK319 from Narita, EK407 from Melbourne and EK381 from Hong Kong, among others.
Flydubai flights FZ1840 from Warsaw, FZ844 from Riyadh and FZ192 from Cairo were also among the flights diverted.
Some Emirates flights bound for Dubai also returned to their origins, according to data from Flightradar24. These include EK24 from Edinburgh, EK525 from Hyderabad, EK20 from Manchester, EK523 from Thiruvananthapuram, EK164 from Dublin and EK619 from Sialkot.
Scheduled departures from DXB were delayed by several hours. Impacted flights include flydubai's FZ441 bound for Delhi, FZ333 to Karachi, FZ883 to Dammam and FZ353 to Islamabad.
Flights scheduled to depart DXB from 1pm onwards were still on time as of Monday morning.
DXB also urged travellers to contact their airlines for the latest flight updates. “Further updates will be shared as they become available,” it posted on X.
