One flight today is a notable example of the terrible situation in Afghanistan.
Emirates 5hr30min+ Flight to Nowhere
Many international airlines fly to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. These include Emirates, Turkish Airlines and FlyDubai. As you would expect, airlines have stopped providing service to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport. Although the United States military technically has control of the airport in order to allow evacuations, it is a complex and fluid situation.
Emirates has a daily flight that connects Dubai to Kabul. EK640 departs Dubai at 10.50 AM and arrives in Kabul around 2:20 PM. EK641 departs Kabul between 4:20 and 6:45 PM. A Boeing 777-300ER two-cabin aircraft flies the 1,048-mile flight.
EK640 was approaching Kabul today when it was decided to turn around. This was for the safety and comfort of crew and passengers. The plane started its descent at 37,000 feet, 2hr14min after leaving Dubai. After descending to 28,000 feet, the plane entered an extended holding pattern that lasted about 30 minutes.
The plane climbed again and returned to Dubai. It landed in Dubai 5hr34min following its takeoff from the same airport. This is all shown on the map below.
When you are near your destination and have to turn around, normal fuel can be a problem. However, Emirates seems to load enough fuel on this route as a standard policy. It is not difficult to carry extra fuel on a 777, which can carry enough fuel for a flight of 15+ hours.
Additionally, Emirates crews perform same-day turns in Kabul, so their work days are actually shorter.
This is a complicated decision and it was not an easy one. I can imagine that hundreds of people were left in Kabul, wishing to flee. However, the airline should have made this decision if it couldn't be certain that the plane would operate safely.
Other flights were also affected
Emirates was not the only airline to make the decision to change en route to Dubai today. FlyDubai also offers up to two daily flights from Kabul to Dubai. While the early morning flight (FZ305/306) ran as planned, the late morning flight didn't.
The Boeing 737-8800 flew to Kabul but was redirected about an hour later. The plane landed back in Dubai approximately 2hr3min after departing.
Turkish Airlines' daily flight between Istanbul, Kabul (TK706/707) was operated as planned. The flight left Istanbul shortly after midnight, landed in Kabul at the early hours of the morning and returned to Kabul around 8AM.
Bottom line
International airlines have been cancelling flights to Kabul due to the rapidly changing situation in Afghanistan. This is for the safety and comfort of passengers and crews. Today's most memorable such flight was the Emirates flight from Dubai. It was just as it was approaching Kabul when the decision to turn back was made. This resulted in a 5hr30min+ flight that took you to nowhere.
