by Leonard Berberi
Success for Emirates flight EK448, which took off after the New Zealand airport flooding in Dubai and operated an Airbus A380. Halfway the jet returned
More than 200 people flew over the Indian Ocean for more than 13 hours and then returned to the departure airport because the destination airport became unusable after a flash flood. Success on the Emirates Dubai-Auckland route with the Airbus A380, the largest passenger aircraft in service, beating another voyage that failed to reach New Zealand, which departed from the US the day before and returned some 10 hours later.
The takeoff
Flight EK448 departed Dubai International Airport in the United Arab Emirates for Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, on Friday 27 January at 10:56 local time (7:56 in Italy). It is the fourth longest connection in the world and usually takes around 15.5 hours for around 14,200 kilometers.
The tide at the destination
But by the time the A380 took off from the Persian Gulf over Auckland, heavy rain had set in. So much so that the entire airport was submerged by tens of centimeters, forcing local authorities to close the structure after an off-piste, blocking over 2,000 people in the terminal. According to the national weather service, 253 millimeters of rain fell in 24 hours.
To return
Six hours and 34 minutes after take-off and halfway between India and Australia, the Emirates Airbus captain decided to turn around and fly back to the airline’s Middle East hub after explaining to passengers on board why the plane would not fly on to its intended destination. The four-engine, double-decker jet landed on the Dubai runway at 00:16 on Saturday 28 January (Friday 21:16 in Italy).
the previous one
A similar fate a few hours earlier befell the American Airlines Boeing 787, which departed from Dallas Airport on January 26 at 10:40 p.m. local time (5:40 a.m. on January 27 in Italy) for flight AA35 bound for Auckland. But once in the middle of the Pacific he turned around when the New Zealand airport was closed and flew nine hours and 49 minutes.
January 28, 2023 (change January 28, 2023 | 07:18)
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