An explosion was heard early this morning near Dubai airport. It was then announced that the airport would be closed.
Some flights have now resumed, but the announcement of the closure caused confusion in the morning. Emirates briefly urged passengers not to come to the airport at all. That statement was withdrawn just half an hour later.
Swedish plan
Sweden has announced that it will charter a plane to bring back stranded travelers. The flight is expected to take off from Dubai on Saturday evening.
"The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is following developments very closely and is in contact with all passengers on the chartered plane if changes should arise. The hope is that passengers will be able to get home on commercial flights," the press service wrote to TT.
The airspace over the United Arab Emirates was closed after the outbreak of war. Tens of thousands of people have since been stranded in Dubai, one of the world's busiest airports.
Flights have been back on track throughout the week despite daily drone attacks. Emirates announced as recently as Friday that it believed it could be back to full service in the "next few days."
Thousands stranded
Around 4,300 Swedes are in the United Arab Emirates, half of whom are stranded travelers.
The travel company Apollo still has about 150 travelers in the country. The plan is to fly them home with Emirates from Dubai on Sunday and Monday, press spokesperson Martina Krantz told TT.
Ving had around 50 travelers in Dubai and Qatar on Saturday. The majority of those from Dubai have booked outbound trips in the coming days, according to the company press spokesperson Anna Hagberg.
During the weekend, Ving and Tui will fly travelers home from the Maldives and Thailand, where travel has been affected by the situation in the Middle East.
Tui estimates that around 40 travelers are in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar. Earlier this week around 20 made it home on their own.
"We understand that they want to come home, and we want them to, too," says Dian Valencia, press officer at Tui.
