Dubai: This weekend is expected to be busy for airports and airlines in the country with many citizens and residents taking advantage of the private and public sector holidays over the Eid Al Fitr weekend.
Abu Dhabi International, home to Etihad Airways, is expecting an “increase of departing and arriving flights … during the first three days of Eid Al Fitr,” Ahmad Al Haddabi, Chief Operations Officer at Abu Dhabi Airports told Gulf News by email on Thursday.
Etihad Airways forecasts it will carry more than 554,000 passengers from Wednesday July 15 until Saturday July 25 across its network, 16 per cent more than the 478,000 it carried during the equivalent period a year ago, the airline told Gulf News this week.
Bangkok in Thailand, Munich in Germany, London in the United Kingdom and Los Angeles in the USA are expected to be popular destinations among the 47,000 passengers Etihad expects to fly out from the UAE this week.
“It will be a busy period for the airline as we fly thousands of guests on family holidays or visiting friends over the Eid holiday,” stated Peter Baumgartner, Chief Commercial Officer of Etihad Airways.
Flydubai, based out of Terminal 2 at Dubai International, is “expecting the airport to be more busy this coming weekend,” a spokesperson from the airline told Gulf News this week.
“Eid Al Fitr is a popular time of the year for our passengers. We are witnessing an increase in passenger numbers, both inbound and outbound, across our network. Passengers from Dubai continue to travel to popular destinations such as Colombo, Bucharest, Istanbul, the Maldives and Prague,” the spokesperson said.
