The Northern runway will be closed for maintenance from April 9 to June 22

It will undoubtedly have an impact on Emirates and flydubai’s operations, but by how much? Emirates will again be affected by the closure of the DXB runway.

The Northern runway was previously rebuilt as extensively as it will be this year in 2014, according to Dubai Airports. The Southern runway was completed in 2019, although the two years had considerable differences. The 2014 renovation took eighty days, however in 2019 it only required 45 days. It will take 45 days for the next upgrade as well.

The shutdown had a $657 million revenue impact on Emirates airline and its airport operator, dnata, according to the company’s 2014 annual report. Passenger numbers at Dubai Airports fell from 16.4 million to 15.4 million between May and July 2014, with June being 8.5% lower than the same month in 2013.

Emirates had to cut their flight schedule and capacity by 25% in 2019 due to the 45-day runway closure. Load factors were actually higher with fewer frequencies, at 78.5 percent, up from 76.8% in 2018, but core passenger revenues were down 3.9 percent, owing to the runway closure and the consequences of the first Covid-wave, which occurred in Emirates’ FY2019-2020. Cargo capacity was down 10% due to fewer aircraft movements. Three percent fewer planes were handled by Dnata.

The exact impact of the closure beginning May 24 is unknown because Dubai Airport does not provide monthly traffic numbers for 2019. However, traffic fell 9.2% in the second quarter, to 19 million passengers, compared to 2018 figures.

– India’s new age travel digital media