Dubai International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. DXB has two runways: North and South. From April 16 to May 30, 2019, the South Runway will undergo a complete refurbishment. Only the North runway will be functional for this time. This means flight operations at DXB will be severely affected during this period of time due to the Dubai Runway Closure.

There will be a 32% reduction in flight operations at Dubai International Airport (DXB), as the usage of North runway will increase to 96%. Dubai Airport already has a solution for those flights which will be affected. Airlines whose flights are affected have been provided with slots at the new Dubai World Central (DWC) airport.

Dubai World Central (DWC) airport is a newer airport currently under development. It is partially opened for flight operations. DWC is located in Jebel Ali, 37 km from Dubai. It currently handles a few passenger flights and cargo flights.

During the 45-day refurbishment, the following airlines are due to operate from DWC: Aeroflot, Azur Air, Belavia, Condor Flugdienst, Eurowings, FlyDubai, FlyNas, Gulf Air, IndiGo, Kuwait Airways, Nepal Airlines, Nordwind Airlines, SpiceJet, Ukraine International Airlines, Ural Airlines and Wizz Air.

The flights to and from the following destinations will be diverted:

• Addis Ababa (ADD)
• Abha (AHB)
• Ahmedabad (AMD)
• Mumbai (BOM)
• Colombo (CMB)
• Cochin (COK)
• Delhi (DEL)
• Gassim (ELQ)
• Gizan (GIZ)
• Ha’il (HAS)
• Hyderabad (HYD)
• Isfahan (IFN)
• Karachi (KHI)
• Lucknow (LKO)
• Lar (LRR)
• Faisalabad (LYP)
• Chennai (MAA)
• Medinah (MED)
• Mashhad (MHD)
• Multan (MUX)
• Najaf (NJF)
• Riyadh (RUH)
• Istanbul (SAW)
• Sialkot (SKT)
• Shiraz (SYZ)
• Ta’if (TIF)
• Thiruvananthapuram (TRV)
• Tabuk (TUU)

Flights to the following destinations will operate out of both DXB and DWC:

• Amman (AMM)
• Bahrain (BAH)
• Beirut (BEY)
• Dammam (DMM)
• Alexandria (HBE)
• Jeddah (JED)
• Kabul (KBL)
• Khartoum (KRT)
• Kuwait (KWI)
• Muscat (MCT)

Airlines operating on India – Dubai sector

IndiGo

IndiGo will have a split flight operation between Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central (DWC) from April 16 to May 30, 2019. Some IndiGo flights are operating to DXB while others are operating to DWC. In some cases, the return flight is operating from a different airport since IndiGo swaps aircraft in some cases.

Flights from Hyderabad will land at DXB while flights to Hyderabad will operate from DWC. In case of Ahmedabad, the flight will land at DWC but the return flight will be operated from DXB. This is because both the sectors aren’t operated by the same aircraft.

One of 2 daily flights from both Delhi and Mumbai flights will operate to Dubai World Central (DWC). But both return flights to Delhi will fly from Dubai International airport (DXB).

It is best to check with IndiGo if you are travelling during this period. As our advice, if you travelling on IndiGo during the runway closure please double check your airport in Dubai twice; the day before travel and also before leaving for the airport since it is confusing.

SpiceJet

SpiceJet will shift flights operated on Delhi – Dubai, Madurai – Dubai, Kochi – Dubai and Pune – Dubai sectors to Dubai World Central (DWC) from April 16 to May 30, 2019. Rest of their flights will operate from Dubai International Airport (DXB).

Air India Express

Air India Express will be shifting their Mangalore – Dubai flights to Sharjah from April 16 to May 30, 2019. There will be a change of timings as well.

Air India

Air India hasn’t posted an update yet. They do have some slots at Dubai World Central (DWC) but looks like they won’t be shifting flights. Instead, Air India has stopped accepting bookings for routes like Chennai – Dubai and Hyderabad – Dubai from April 16 to May 30, 2019. Or maybe, just in Air India fashion, this information will be updated last minute.  Rest all flights are operating as per schedule, though I would advise you to check yourself.

Jet Airways

Jet Airways will continue to operate flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Dubai International airport (DXB). There is no shift in flight operations.

Emirates

While Emirates haven’t published which all flights have been cancelled, they have mentioned that there will be a 25% reduction in flight operations during the runway closure. Up to 48 Emirates aircraft won’t be utilised during that period. Some Indian destinations like Ahmedabad will see reduced frequency during the runway closure.

FlyDubai

Fly Dubai will shift all its flights to Dubai World Central (DWC) airport from Dubai International airport (DXB) during the runway closure.

There will be a regular bus service from key locations in Dubai and a dedicated fleet of taxis serving the Dubai World Central airport (DWC). Express bus service will operate between DXB and DWC every 30 minutes departing from DXB Terminals 1, 2 and 3.

In addition, to this, one can use the code FLYDWC to get a 25% discount on Careem, a ride-hailing cab service (recently bought by Uber) travelling to and from DWC.

Kindly check with your airline if your flight is affected, cancelled or if it is shifted to Dubai World Central (DWC) airport from Dubai International airport (DXB).

Are you travelling to Dubai during the runway closure? Have you checked which airport will you be travelling to/from?