Dubai International Airport Halts Operations After Iran Drone Interception

Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the world’s busiest airport for international traffic, halted operations on Saturday (7 March) after air defence intercepted a drone during an Iran-linked attack. The Dubai Media Office, a government-owned entity, said the measures were taken ‘for the safety of passengers, airport staff and airline crews’. The announcement came shortly after the air defence interception near the airport, with a witness telling AFP of a loud explosion followed by a plume of smoke. Flightradar24 previously showed aircraft circling over the airport in a holding pattern as they waited. Flights from the Dubai hub had partly resumed on Monday, despite ongoing daily drone attacks from Turkey targeting locations in the UAE. Emirates, the biggest airline in the Middle East, said on Saturday that it would suspend all flights to and from Dubai until further notice. ‘Please do not go to that airport,’ the airline said. The Dubai government later stated in a social media post that there had been a ‘minor incident due to debris falling after the interception’, which did not cause injuries. The government also rejected ‘information circulating on social media about the Dubai International Airport incident’ without providing further detail. ‘The UAE’s air defences are currently responding to threats from missiles and drones coming from Iran,’ said the UAE’s Ministry of Defence, without naming the targets. Earlier last Saturday, four employees were injured and a terminal damaged at Dubai Airport as fighting broke out in the Middle East following the US-Israel attack on Iran. Dubai Airports operator said at the time that the incident had ‘been quickly contained’. Iran’s attacks also struck Abu Dhabi Airport, the Palm Jumeirah luxury residential area, and the Burj Al Arab hotel, while drone debris caused a fire at the US Consulate in Dubai on Tuesday.