Dubai airport struggles for third day amid travel chaos after storm

Travel chaos roiled the world’s busiest international airport in Dubai for a third day, after a record-breaking storm which hit the United Arab Emirates caused the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. The UAE experienced its heaviest rains in the 75 years on record on Tuesday, flooding critical infrastructure and causing unprecedented flight cancellations and delays at one of the world’s most important travel hubs.  Airlines have been forced to cancel 1,145 flights since Tuesday, about a third of the scheduled departures and arrivals at Dubai airport, according to data from Flightradar24. Dubai airport on Thursday said it was slowly resuming operations, including at terminals serving both Emirates and international carriers. But it warned that “flights continue to be delayed and disrupted” and told passengers only to travel to the airport if they had received confirmation their flight was operating, amid a “high volume of guests”. Travellers continued to upload pictures of chaotic scenes at the airport. “It remains an incredibly challenging time. In living memory, I don’t think anyone has ever seen conditions like it,” Dubai Airport’s boss Paul Griffiths told the BBC. Among the affected travellers were attendees at a major cryptocurrency conference in Dubai, Token2049. Some conference goers complained of having spent hours waiting in Dubai airport on Tuesday and Wednesday due to severe shortages of onward transportation. And others who had arrived at the weekend, had battled delayed or lengthy rerouted flights due to airspace closures across the region during Iran’s attack on Israel. Dubai has grown over the past 30 years from a minor regional airport into the world’s busiest international hub, as the Gulf has become a major force in global aviation. <br/>