Small number of flights leave UAE amid global turmoil

DUBAI — International airlines cautiously resumed a limited number of flights from the United Arab Emirates on Monday, as departures across the Middle East continue to be disrupted by the conflict between the US-Israel and Iran. More than 4,000 flights a day have been canceled across the region, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24, with hundreds of thousands of passengers affected. The disruption “will only increase the longer the crisis continues” and it “will have enormous repercussions for the industry,” Flightradar24’s director of communications Ian Petchenik said. Etihad Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and budget carrier Flydubai, said they would operate select flights from the country, where air traffic was suspended on Saturday.Dubai’s government told passengers to head to airports only if they were contacted directly during what it said would be a “limited resumption of operations”. More than 80% of the flights scheduled to and from Dubai and more than half of the flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain canceled, according to flight tracking website FlightAware. Posting on X on Monday, Flightradar24 added that more than 2,000 flights had been canceled to and from seven key airports in the Gulf region including Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Kuwait and Bahrain. At least 15 Etihad flights took off from Abu Dhabi’s airport on Monday to help evacuate passengers who have been stranded there. The flights headed to a variety of destinations, including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Cairo and London Heathrow. But regular commercial flights remained canceled. “Some repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights may operate in coordination with UAE authorities and subject to strict operational and safety approvals,” Etihad said on social media. The airline confirmed that scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until 2 pm local time on Wednesday 4 March. Emirates began operating a limited number of flights on Monday evening. “We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority, and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates,” the airline said. Dubai Airports confirmed a resumption of operations with a small number of flights permitted to operate from Dubai International and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International. Emirates flight UAE500 to Mumbai took off from Dubai at 6:15 pm CET followed by Emirates flight UAE542 to Chennai. While the Emirates flights were taking off, two Flydubai flights were approaching Dubai airport. At the same time, two Etihad flights were approaching Abu Dhabi to land after a number of flights took off from the airport on Monday afternoon, for the first time since the outbreak of the Iran war. In a statement, Flydubai said it would operate four flights departing the city and another five arriving planes on Monday. “We continue to work closely with the relevant authorities and stakeholders to ensure an efficient, gradual return to operations,” it said. “The situation remains dynamic, and we continue to monitor closely and amend our schedule accordingly.” With air travel severely limited throughout the Middle East, the conflict that started on Saturday stranded hundreds of thousands of travellers in multiple countries. Tourists, business travellers and religious pilgrims found themselves stuck unexpectedly in hotels, airports and on cruise ships. Dubai International Airport, Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport, and Hamad International Airport in Doha, Qatar, are important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and Asia. The three airports were all directly hit by Iranian strikes over the weekend. Along with people planning to head to or from the region, travellers who were passing through on multi-leg flights also found themselves stuck. All aircraft movements at Hamad International Airport remain suspended due to the temporary closure of the Qatari airspace. The country’s flag carrier, Qatar Airways, will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace. Oman Air has said that all flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, and Baghdad are canceled for Tuesday 3 March. Other flights are operating as scheduled but delays are to be expected. Air France has canceled its scheduled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh until 5 March.Dutch airline KLM is currently not flying through the airspace of Iran, Iraq, and Israel, nor over several countries in the Gulf region. Flights to, from, or via destinations in the region are canceled or adjusted. KLM’s Tel Aviv flights are suspended for the remainder of its winter season operations; flights to and from Dubai are suspended until 5 March; and flights to and from Damman and Riyadh are also suspended until 5 March. British Airways is not flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until 4 March, while a number of flights to the Middle East have also been cancelled. The airline said if passengers are due to fly between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai or Tel Aviv up to and including 15 March, they can change their flight free of charge to travel on or before 29 March. Customers travelling up to and including 8 March may also request a full refund. Lufthansa Group airlines – which includes Lufthansa, SWISS International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Eurowings – has suspended flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil, Dammam, and Tehran until 8 March. In addition, Lufthansa Group airlines also suspend flights to and from Dubai until 4 March. Finnair has suspended daily flights to Dubai and Doha until 6 March, while Norwegian is suspending its flights to and from Dubai up until and including 4 March. “We will then assess if it’s possible to resume flights,” said the budget carrier. Delta Air Lines has cancelled flights from New York to Tel Aviv until 8 March, while American Airlines’s Doha-Philadelphia flights are “temporarily suspended”. Air Canada has said that all flights to and from Dubai and Tel Aviv are currently suspended and restarting on 23 March. Air India has extended the suspension of all flights to and from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar until 11:59 pm local time (7:29 pm CET) on 2 March 2026. Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s flag carrier, temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha “until further notice”, the company said in a statement on Sunday. From the UK, flights have also been cancelled for many Middle East destinations, including all flights to Israel and Bahrain, three-quarters of the day’s scheduled flights to the United Arab Emirates, and more than two-thirds (69%) of flights to Qatar.— Agencies