Maintenance work next week by Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) on the airport runway at Abu Dhabi airport has led to Etihad Airways having to cancel eight flights of its daily total of 95.
A significant number of other flights will have their departure or arrival times either brought forward or delayed to avoid the runway closure period.
Although routine, the maintenance work is essential and will mean the airport’s runway will be temporarily closed between 2.15am and 2.15pm (UAE time) on Tuesday 22 July.
The cancelled flights are four roundtrips:
• EY321 and EY322 Abu Dhabi-Dammam-Abu Dhabi
• EY371 and EY372 Abu Dhabi-Bahrain-Abu Dhabi
• EY381 and EY382 Abu Dhabi-Muscat-Abu Dhabi
• EY393 and EY394 Abu Dhabi-Doha-Abu Dhabi
The airline advises customers booked to travel from early morning on Tuesday 22 July to visit its website www.etihadairways.com or ring its call centre (02) 69 39 800 to check the status of flights.
Geert Boven, executive vice president sales and services, said: “We are doing all we can to contact those customers affected by the closure to advise them of any changes to their travel plans. “I would like to stress that this is a situation beyond our control and we are doing everything we can to restore operations to normal as quickly as possible.
It should be noted that ADAC, the owner-operator of Abu Dhabi International Airport (ADIA), has released its latest traffic figures with year-to-date (YTD) passenger numbers revealing a 39.2 percent increase over the same period last year. "Passenger traffic from January through May has largely matched the steady mid-thirty percentile growth rate we have been witnessing at Abu Dhabi Airport in line with managed and anticipated projections," said Rudy Vercelli, ADAC’s chief executive officer.
