An aircraft prepares for takeoff from Dubai International Airport.

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Dubai’s main airport, the world's busiest for international travel, will overhaul one of its two runways for 45 days, starting in May, the operator said on Tuesday. The closure will likely lead to flight reductions ahead of the traditional start of the summer season.

The renovation project is scheduled to be implemented from May 09 to June 22, 2022.

The shutdown of the northern runway — part of a project to upgrade the airfield to ensure "safety and efficient operations” - will begin on May 9 and last until June 22, the airport said.

flydubai has announced that it will operate flights to a number of selected destinations from Dubai World Central - DWC "Al Maktoum International Airport" in order to provide more travel options for passengers during the renovation project of the northern runway of Dubai International Airport announced by Dubai Airports.

flydubai will operate flights to 34 destinations from Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) during the runway renovation work to ensure smooth flow of passenger traffic. Passengers during this period at Al Maktoum Airport will enjoy all the travel services that flydubai has to offer.

During this period, flights to five of these destinations will also be available from Dubai International Airport. Flights to all other flydubai destinations will continue to operate from Terminals 2 and 3 at Dubai International Airport (DXB).

flydubai CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: “As we saw in 2019, the runway improvement project aims primarily to support Dubai's vision, which will strengthen its position as one of the world's leading aviation hubs.

“We look forward to the completion of the North Runway renovation program and the improvements it will bring to our operational hub at Dubai International Airport. With flydubai flights operating to specific destinations from Dubai World Central, we aim to provide our passengers with as many options as possible to travel across our network, especially as more countries open up to travel.”

The airline will operate flights to 34 destinations on the airline's network of more than 90 destinations from Dubai World Central during the runway improvement project, including flights to Addis Ababa, Bahrain, Delhi, Jeddah, Kuwait, Mumbai, Muscat and Riyadh. Following the completion of the runway improvement project on June 22, 2022, flydubai will resume flights to all destinations from Dubai International Airport (DXB).

The airline advised passengers to check their departure and arrival airports before traveling to ensure they have the correct information and via flydubai.com.