Dubai: Emirates Diverts Flights To Perth, Iraq Due To ‘Medical Emergency

The Emirate flight EK 181 from Dubai to Brussels was diverted to Erbil, a city in Iraq due to a medical emergency on the flight. The passenger was taken to a local hospital as soon as the flight landed in Erbil. The Boeing 777-300 ER aircraft was fitted with its new First Class Suites and it was on its way to Brussels when this incident occurred. 

The Emirate Airlines increased their flights to different parts of the world to meet the customer demands

The Emirates Airline had increased its flights to European countries due to high demand after the Covid pandemic. The airline industry in Dubai and the UAE made an impressive comeback in 2021 with a sharp increase in the number of flight passengers.

Across six continents, 130 destinations are being serviced by Emirate Airlines and the coming years seem to be a very promising journey for the airlines. 

The EK 181 flight was refueled and resumed its journey to Brussels after a delay of fewer than two hours on the ground. The officials of the airlines apologized for the inconvenience caused while maintaining that the safety of its passengers and crews was the prime concern of Emirate Airlines. 

Emirates Airline has been on a dream ride post-pandemic as the demand for flights has gone up together with the influx of tourists into Dubai.

This increase in demand also brings future challenges to the aviation industry as Dubai is moving towards becoming a completely sustainable city. As part of these efforts, the aviation sector is also coming up with innovative initiatives such as the use of sustainable fuel in its aircraft that can reduce carbon emissions by over eighty percent. 

The sustainable fuel industry is gaining prominence even though the production capability is less as of now. Aircraft manufacturers are manufacturing new engines that can run on sustainable fuels and this will be the rise of a new wave in the aviation sector as it is considered to be one the main contributors to carbon emission. As per records, the current use of sustainable fuel in aviation is only one percent of the total fuel supply. 

In January, Emirates Airlines successfully flew their aircraft using sustainable fuel as Captain Fali Vajifdar and Captain Khalid Nasser Akram piloted the flight which took off from Dubai International airport (DXB) around 11 a.m in the morning and flew above the coastline of Dubai for more than an hour before landing back at the Dubai airport.

Sustainable Air Fuel (SAF) is mainly sourced from different items like municipal waste, algae, forestry residue, oil seeds, fats, oils, and greases, also dedicated energy crops. The flight that demonstrated sustainable fuel aviation used a GE Aviation engine which is currently considered one of the most advanced engines that can run on SAF. 

Zeina Chakhtoura, senior customer service manager at GE aviation said that the company is working towards creating a complete SAF standard and this will be released in a span of the next two years. One major engine manufacturers and aircraft companies switch to SAF standards for aircraft, the emission rate would be drastically reduced welcoming a new age of sustainable aviation. 

Ahmad Al Redha, Chief Operating Officer of Emirates Airlines observed that the sourcing of SAF fuel is one of the main challenges in front of the airlines today and that the airlines would be aiming to make at least fifty percent of their fuel dependency on SAF by 2030.

If this can be achieved then it would be a very big milestone in the race toward a sustainable economy. He urged the SAF manufacturers and other new companies who are planning to enter into this sector to coordinate and maximize their efforts to increase production so that the environment-friendly fuel can be supplied to neighboring countries of the UAE and to the rest of the world. 

Related Topics

🔹Dubai Issues New Virtual Assets Industry Guidelines To Make UAE A “Superhighway” For Crypto

🔹Mohammed Bin Rashid Meets With High-ranking Military And Police Officials In UAE

Al Redha reminded us that the cost behind the research and development of SAF will be very high in the initial stages and it is not ideal to depend on any one company for the supply of SAF.

It is a commitment that needs to be made globally and everyone should join hands and cooperate to make it a reality in the coming ten years. He also said that the successful demonstration flight of the aircraft with SAF will create an opportunity to submit the report to higher authorities so that approval can be granted to start using SAF in normal planes in the near future.

This will be a big step in the journey toward the implementation of SAF as the major fuel source for aviation in the future. The concerns and challenges will have to be solved through each productive step taken with the consolidated efforts of companies and the Dubai administration. 

The larger goal of Emirates Airlines has always been to push the frontiers of innovation and to provide safe aviation services to its passengers. This inclusive strategy has made Airliner one of the most successful airline companies in the world.