A friend in the UAE alerted me to severe weather disruptions which are shutting down UAE airspace and causing all kinds of flight cancellations in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
What’s this severe weather, you ask? Well, it’s raining in the UAE. Light rain right now, according to weather.com, though apparently it was worse overnight, with some major thunderstorms.
That’s enough to greatly restrict operations at airports there. Several flights have been canceled, including Emirates flights to Chicago and Seattle, among other destinations.
Just how poorly equipped is the Middle East to handle rain? The storms have caused part of the roof to collapse at Abu Dhabi Airport today:
The rain is expected to continue tomorrow, so if you’re scheduled to fly through the UAE in the next couple of days, keep a close eye on your flight status.
As some of you may recall, it rained in Doha in November, which caused Qatar Airways to close their first class lounge, since there were huge leaks.
Here’s a clip of the airport flooding at the time:
Bottom line
Qatar and the UAE seem to have almost unlimited funds for completely unnecessary construction, but can’t even get basic things right, like rain-proof buildings. Embarrassing…
But the moral of the story is that if you’re flying through the UAE in the next couple of days, keep an eye on your flight status…
Anyone scheduled to fly through the UAE in the coming days, and if so, has your flight been impacted (yet)?
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