Mumbai: Emirates resumed its scheduled operations after facing disruptions due to the escalating tensions in the Middle East. The largest airline in the Middle East also resumed its operations to and from India after minimal disruptions on Monday.
The escalating tensions in the Middle East or West Asia proved to be a severe blow to the aviation industry as multiple countries issued notices to airmen (NOTAMs) restricting usage of their airspace. Multiple airlines including Indian carriers, flying to some parts of the Middle East, Europe as well as the East coast of America, were affected due to this. While a few flights were cancelled, some of them were delayed, diverted and rerouted.
After the disruptions, Emirates resumed its regularly scheduled flights within short hours. According to the airline, its passengers experienced minimal disruptions to their travel plans after the regional events on the night of June 23. In a statement, the airline said that it quickly activated its robust contingency and disruption plans without any diversions while only a small number of cancellations and a few flights experiencing longer flight paths due to airspace congestion.
Despite rapidly evolving regional developments, it was business as usual for the Emirates network. In the past two weeks, the airline maintained scheduled services by rerouting flights to avoid conflict zones, serving over 1.7 million passengers on more than 5,800 flights across its global network. The airline took immediate action by suspending flights only to areas directly impacted by conflict while maintaining operations to all other destinations. Services to Amman and Beirut were briefly suspended but resumed quickly.
The airline said that it kept customers informed with regular operational website updates as well as on its social media channels, and its reservations teams helped reaccommodate affected customers. While the airline is gearing up for the busy summer travel season, it claimed to continue actively monitoring developments in coordination with the authorities.
“The safety of Emirates’ passengers and crew is its absolute priority, and the airline would never fly if it was not safe to do so. Emirates continuously monitors developments, coordinates with aviation authorities, and assesses every potential risk to ensure all flights are safely rerouted away from conflict zones, all the while meeting the most stringent regulatory requirements,” Emirates said in a statement.
