Dubai: As New Year’s Eve preparations kick into high gear, airlines are again preparing for another huge wave of travellers passing through Dubai over the next few days.
One of the largest Middle East carriers, Emirates announced on Wednesday that it is expecting nearly one million flyers passing through the city's passenger terminals starting this weekend until just after 1 January 2018.
Busy days for travellers leaving and arriving into Dubai International Airport will be just a few days before New Year’s and after the festivities have wound down.
And with construction personnel still working on a number of projects around Dubai’s main airport, travellers from the UAE are strongly advised to head to the terminals earlier than usual.
Out of the expected flyers during the busy period, more than a quarter (250,000 people) are scheduled to arrive into Dubai from 28 December to 1 January 2018, while 200,000 will be departing from Dubai. Also at the same time, another 350,000 flyers will be connecting through Emirates’ dedicated Terminal 3 facilities.
“The busiest time for departures will be starting on 1st January 2018 in the afternoon and continuing all day on Tuesday 2nd and Wednesday 3rd January,” Emirates said in a statement.
“With road works and major infrastructure enhancements happening around the main airport highways and roads during this time, Emirates urges customers to build in extra time to their journeys to avoid potential delays.”
The airline reiterated that passengers should ideally arrive at the airport at least three hours prior to departure.
Flyers also have an option to physically check in as early as six hours before departure.
“Customers who check in less than 60 minutes prior to their scheduled flight departure will not be accepted for travel. Customers can also check in online on both their desktops and mobile devices from 48 hours to 90 minutes before flight departure,” Emirates said.
A few more reminders to keep in mind:
• Take advantage of car park check-in facilities equipped with 16 check-in counters, located in Zone C.
• Customers can use these to check in and drop off their luggage.
• Along with checked in baggage, passengers are strongly advised to adhere to carry-on baggage weight limits, which are 7 kilos for economy class and 14 kilos for business and first class. Staff will be checking the weight of carry-on bags at various touch points before passengers board their flights.
