Massive jet’s gone! Here’s why Emirates chose Dar
What you need to know:
- Flight EK 701 was headed to Mauritius from Dubai with 475 passengers on board, and had to be diverted to Dar late Tuesday due to bad weather.
Dar es Salaam. The Emirates jet that got a nation talking on Tuesday when it landed unexpectedly at the Dar airport has left the country – and now we know why it landed here in the first place.
The A380 took off for Mauritius at 8:15AM on Wednesday, according to Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority boss Hamza Johari.
The TCCA boss says Emirates chose to park the flight in Dar es Salaam for its “safe skies.”
“They could have gone to Johannesburg or Windhoek,” he said, adding “(But) they look at how safe your skies are. Can they land safely? Will you look after their aircraft?”
Flight EK 701 was headed to Mauritius from Dubai with 475 passengers on board, and had to be diverted to Dar late Tuesday due to bad weather.
By early night yesterday, the weather had cleared so the flight could have taken off, Mr Johari told The Citizen.
“They could have left yesterday (Tuesday) evening but…hotel arrangements had already been made.”
The 475 passengers were hosted at Hyatt Regency, Serena, Southern Sun, New Africa and Golden Tulip, according to Mr Johari.
