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Emirates Airline announced that it’ll suspend its nonstop Dubai (DXB) to Newark (EWR) route between April 16 and May 30, 2019, in anticipation of Dubai International Airport’s scheduled runway closure, Routes Online reported. Flight EK223 (DXB-EWR) and EK224 (EWR-DXB) are unavailable for booking on the Emirates website during the closure period. The daily fifth-freedom route departing Dubai, which stops in Athens (ATH) on the way to Newark remains available.

Other US routes that will be affected during the same time period include:

  • Dubai (DXB) – Boston (BOS) — Reduce from 7 to 6 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – Chicago O’Hare (ORD) — Reduce from 7 to 6 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – Dallas/Ft. Worth (DFW) — Reduce from 7 to 6 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – Ft. Lauderdale (FLL) — Reduce from 5 to 3 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – New York JFK (JFK) — Reduce from 14 to 12 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – Orlando (MCO) — Reduce from 5 to 4 weekly
  • Dubai (DXB) – Washington Dulles (IAD) — Reduce from 7 to 6 weekly

The runway closure was announced in February 2018, and will allow DXB to resurface and replace ground lighting and implement some other infrastructure updates, according to the airport. The temporary closure will significantly impact the airport’s capacity and require airlines to restrict operations during those 45 days. Airlines will be able to reroute air traffic to Dubai’s second airport, Dubai World Central (DWC), located about 37 miles south of DXB.

Although DWC currently operates on a far smaller scale than DXB, with just less than a million travelers in 2017, the smaller airport is currently undergoing its own renovations in order to increase its capacity from between 5 million and 7 million passengers up to 26 million passengers per year. In comparison, DXB anticipates a 2.4% passenger increase in 2018, up to 90.3 million annual travelers.

The 2019 runway closure isn’t the first for DXB. In 2014, DXB shut down its northern runway for 80 days of needed upgrades and renovations. At that time, the closure cost the Emirates Group around $467 million in lost revenue, according to the airline.

H/T: Routes Online

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