Dubai caps flights, upgrades drainage

Dubai is squeezing foreign airlines to one daily flight into its airports through May 31, 2026, while spending heavily to stop the next flood. (reuters.com) A March 27 email from Dubai Airports told carriers they would be limited to one daily round-trip flight each to Dubai International Airport and Al Maktoum International Airport from April 20 through May 31, according to Reuters. The restriction was tied to the Iran crisis, and industry letters reviewed by Reuters said Indian airlines had scheduled more Dubai flights than carriers from any other country. (reuters.com) The Federation of Indian Airlines asked New Delhi on March 31 to press Dubai to lift the cap and, if that failed, to consider reciprocal measures on Emirates and flydubai, the Economic Times reported. The group represents IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet, which the report said face the biggest revenue hit. (economictimes.indiatimes.com) At the same time, Dubai Municipality said it has finished the first phase of a Dh500 million sewerage and stormwater project in Al Quoz Creative Zone. The first phase cost Dh250 million and covers 155 hectares and 123 plots, part of a wider network planned for 1,600 hectares and more than 1,507 plots. (gulfnews.com) The Al Quoz work serves Industrial Areas 1, 2, 3 and 4 and the corridor between Sheikh Zayed Road and Al Khail Road, according to Dubai Municipality statements carried by Gulf News and Zawya. Officials said the project is designed to improve drainage capacity in one of Dubai’s busiest industrial and commercial districts. (gulfnews.com, zawya.com) Both moves trace back to shocks that hit Dubai in the past two years: regional conflict that disrupted aviation planning, and the April 2024 storm that flooded highways, homes and Dubai International Airport. In June 2024, Dubai approved a Dh30 billion rainwater drainage program after what officials described as the heaviest rainfall event in the United Arab Emirates since records began in 1949. (reuters.com, france24.com, bloomberg.com) Dubai’s government said that emirate-wide drainage plan would provide a 100-year level of stormwater protection and link existing systems through deep tunnels and new collection lines. The Al Quoz upgrade is one of the first visible pieces of that larger build-out. (france24.com, madhyamamonline.com) For airlines, the calendar matters: the cap starts April 20 and runs to May 31, right as Indian carriers are already dealing with higher fuel costs and longer routings because of limits on Pakistani airspace, Reuters reported. For Dubai, the drainage timeline is longer, with officials framing Al Quoz as resilience work after the 2024 floods and more recent storms. (reuters.com, madhyamamonline.com) One policy is cutting traffic in the air for six weeks. The other is trying to keep the city moving when the rain comes down again. (reuters.com, gulfnews.com)