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Dubai Airport will be back to full operational capacity in 24 hours

Most airlines stopped canceling flights and were able to partially restore their regular flight schedule, the Chief Operating Officer noted

DUBAI, April 18. /TASS/. Dubai International Airport, which hit by record-breaking heavy rains for the UAE, will return to its full operational capacity within 24 hours, Dubai Airports Chief Operating Officer Majed Al Joker told the UAE state news agency WAM.

According to him, after the reopening of terminals 1 and 3, traffic at the airport has become more consistent. Thanks to this, most airlines stopped canceling flights and were able to partially restore their regular flight schedule, the Chief Operating Officer noted.

Earlier on Thursday, Dubai Airport said Terminal 1 had resumed reception of flights. Emirates and Flydubai airlines opened check-in for their flights at Terminal 3, but the flight schedule could not be fully restored. The airlines warned passengers that they should only arrive at the airport only if they received a booking confirmation from the airline.

In comments to Al Arabiya TV, Al Joker said that the airport's operations have now been restored to 70%. According to the director of operations, the airport's infrastructure did not suffer serious damage.

"Once operations are back to normal, we will assess the damages and would be able to give figure for the size of losses," Al Joker told Al Arabiya TV in a televised interview.

On the night of April 16, the UAE was hit by heavy rains, rare for an arid region. Due to bad weather, Dubai airport stopped receiving and dispatching flights on Tuesday. Emirates airline has suspended check-in of passengers flying from Dubai until Thursday. National carrier Etihad Airways warned of possible schedule changes. Low-cost airline Flydubai stopped operating outbound flights for some time.

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