Travel chaos at Dubai airport after mass flight cancellations – what it’s like to be stuck in the middle of it

Post culture editor Kevin Kwong is marooned with thousands of others at Dubai International Airport after his flight was cancelled following a historic storm

With seemingly no ground staff present to assist, travellers are getting more confused, frustrated and angry, with no idea when they will leave the airport

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Stranded passengers search for information at Dubai International Airport on April 19, 2024, after more than 1,200 flights were cancelled following an unprecedented storm, leading to widespread travel chaos. Photo: Kevin Kwong

Published: 10:40am, 19 Apr 2024Updated: 10:56am, 19 Apr 2024

South China Morning Post culture editor Kevin Kwong is among travellers stranded at Dubai International Airport after the United Arab Emirates experienced its worst storm in decades, submerging airport runways. He shares details of the chaos he is encountering.

It was at around 10.15pm on Thursday when I noticed that my scheduled 9.10pm connecting flight from Dubai International Airport to Portugal’s capital Lisbon with Emirates had disappeared from the departure boards.

With no warning or notification from the largest airline in the Middle East, my flight had been cancelled – after at least five reschedulings – leaving me stranded at Dubai’s main airport, one of the busiest in the world.

I’m with thousands of other travellers and holidaymakers from around the world who have been left marooned after an unprecedented storm on Tuesday dumped up to 250mm of rain over the emirate, submerging its airport runways and making it very difficult to get planes in and out.

Some 1,244 flights were cancelled and 41 diverted on Tuesday and Wednesday, AFP reports, and that backlog has been compounded by hundreds more delays and cancellations on Thursday.

Stranded passengers wait for information on their flights at Dubai International Airport on April 19, 2024. Photo: Kevin Kwong

When I landed in Dubai earlier in the evening – from Bangkok, Thailand en route to Lisbon, where I intend to join a yoga retreat – I knew chaos awaited.