Airlines reduce flights to Dubai as one of the runways to remain shut from May 1 for 3 months

The airlines have either cancelled flights or rescheduled them to Sharjah

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Indian carriers are cutting more than a third of about 275 weekly flights to Dubai as one of the two runways at its airport — the world's second busiest — remains shut for nearly three months starting May 1.

The carriers have either cancelled flights or rescheduled them to Sharjah, which is half an hour from Dubai executives at IndiGo, Jet Airways, Air India and SpiceJet told ET.

On the other hand Emirates will cancel 21 weekly flights out of its total of 185 to India.

Travel company executives said while the point-to-point traffic will shift to Sharjah, the hub traffic, the primary bread and butter for the airport and its carrier Emirates will go to competitors.

The reduction is however unlikely to have a significant impact on passenger traffic flying to Dubai for theIndian Premier League as UAE will host matches only till April 30. The remaining matches will be played at venues in India.

The flight reductions from India will have the clearest impact on the airport's international traffic. India contributed the biggest chunk — 8.4 million — of 66.43 million passengers handled by the Dubai airport last year.

Etihad operates 84 weekly flights to 10 cities in India, while Singapore Airlines operates 63.

Starting May 1, Dubai will close its Southern Runway for routine maintenance till end of the month and the Northern Runway till July 20 once the first one becomes operational, thereby effectively operating one runway for 80 days.

The move will reduce its daily capacity by 25%, the airport said in a presentation. The airport handled 3,69,953 aircraft movements in 2013, up 7.5% from the previous year.

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