Emirati airline Flydubai is going to operate flights to Pakistani destinations out of Dubai World Central-Al Maktoum International airport. This change of airport is because of the closure of the southern runway refurbishment project at Dubai International Airport between 16 April 2019 and 30 May 2019.
The airline said in a press release that selected flydubai flights to and from Dubai including flights to Karachi, Multan, Faisalabad and Sialkot will take off and land at Al Maktoum International airport.
Emirates on the other hand also announced that a significant number of its flights will be impacted by the closure of Dubai International Airport’s southern runway for an upgrade during the April-May 2019 period.
The Dubai-based carrier announced that it will reduce 25 per cent of its flights and not utilise 45 aircraft during the runway closure from April 16 to May 30, 2019.
Dubai airport, on an average, handles 1,100 aircraft movements per day, with Emirates and flydubai taking the lion’s share of the flight movements. The reduction in capacity was earlier estimated at approximately 43 per cent – or 473 flights – during the 45-day period.
During the 2014 upgrade of the northern runway, Dubai International operated with one runway for 80 days. That closure had cost the Emirates Group an estimated $467 million (Dh1.71 billion) in lost revenue.