Dubai is drying out…
Much has been speculated on, written and argued about last week’s weather in the UAE. So, how did many people living there decide not to take out flood insurance for the simple reason they live in a desert!
Media coverage showed torrential rain, with luxury cars disappearing under rapidly rising flood water. Underground carparks, shopping malls and other buildings did not escape either. Schools and businesses were closed, with a government advisory to stay at home. Let’s take a look at how this affected air travel in the region.
Social media contributors circulated short videos of aircraft landing in water “around 2 feet deep”. There had been plenty of warnings about adverse weather, but no-one expected it to be the “once in 75 years” event. Last Tuesday, Captain James Ward speculated about whether he should use a canoe to report for duty! He finally arrives home from SFO on Sunday, 3 days later than expected. It was not surprising that Emirates decided to ground flights, with some UK airports suffering cancellations or severe delays. When things started to improve, the highlights were 2 A380s at BHX and MAN on Friday.
There were many complaints about staff at DXB and Emirates not providing the expected level of customer service. However, this improved drastically when the infrastructure recovered and there are many reports of staff handing out food, drink and comfort items. Emirates President, Sir Tim Clark issued an open letter to all customers, apologising for the airlines’ slow reaction. He also outlined how much support had been given, with flight schedules restored by Saturday 20 April. He also reassured customers that lessons would be learned as he felt his company “could do better!”
As usual, many took to social media to speculate on the cause, describing it as an artificial weather phenomenon. However, despite cloud seeding often taking place to generate rain, this event was solely down to Mother Nature. For anyone not aware, cloud seeding is the practice of firing small detonators into clouds in the hope that the disruption will cause rain. There’s also evidence that at the height of the storm, the sky did turn green…
In other news…
Boeing – don’t think a day goes by without new incidents and revelations reported. A new whistleblower has suggested that production be halted whilst problems are eradicated. Although the source is unknown, a trusted aviation site has also suggested this as so many faults are being reported. The latest problem appears to be with pilot seats, where a button on the seat back can be unintentionally activated in flight.
Outgoing CEO doesn’t apply his cost-cutting ideology to himself. It’s been reported that he accrued $500,000 of personal private jet travel whilst booking it as business travel. It came to light in regulatory reporting last year as part of an internal review prompted by a Wall Street Journal investigation.
Nomadic Group – there appears to be no let-up in the requirement for ferry flights. Their contract with LATAM alone has generated 65 flight operations in a 4-month period. Adding in non-LATAM flights, that’s over 150 ops in such a short timescale. The company is now undertaking a recruitment campaign for more pilots, including those who are nearing retirement age and not necessarily US-based.
Air Team Images – wanting to frame the Jet2 flight information given to me last November, I considered various options for something that’s only the size of a credit card. Found this site by accident, when searching for a clear picture of B757 G-LSAC. Project completed, thought I’d give a mention to this site as they have a vast stock of photos for sale, in addition to other items. No, I’m not receiving any discounts/freebies for this shout out!
And finally…
EI-EIO – every time spotters on a live stream sees an EI- registration, speculation starts about this particular one. To clarify, it does exist and belongs to a 1976 Piper PA34 Seneca. However, it appears that it is currently deregistered. As far as we know, the Irish owner is not in the farming business!
Information courtesy of DXB, Dubai Media Office, Nomadic Group, YouTube
Images courtesy of 664 Connect Media, Poshgirl (with a little help from Jet2)
©TPSC and Poshgirl