International airlines avoid Middle East over Iran war

• Emirates currently taking bookings
• Etihad schedules flights
• Many other operations suspended

Middle East carriers are gradually building back operations in the face of strikes from Iran, but international airlines are adopting a far more cautious approach, with many bypassing the region for the foreseeable future.

Emirates is currently taking bookings to more than 100 destinations, leaving from its base at Dubai International Airport, while Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways has scheduled 21 flights for departure from Zayed International Airport on Thursday.

Flydubai has said it is operating a “limited schedule”, while Qatar Airways plans to fly to 15 destinations on Friday.

But internationally it is a different story.

Earlier this week British Airways confirmed it had cancelled all flights to and from Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv until later this month and to and from Abu Dhabi until later this year.

The UK flag carrier joins a list of other airlines including Air France, which has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut through to March 15 and to Dubai and Riyadh until March 14.

KLM has said flights to Riyadh and Dammam were suspended until March 12, flights to Dubai until March 28 and flights to Tel Aviv were suspended for the remainder of its winter season.

Air Canada cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until May 2 and all flights to Dubai until March 28. Finnair has cancelled Doha and Dubai flights until March 29 and is avoiding the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel. 

Virgin Atlantic has said it is pausing operations to Dubai until the end of its “Winter 25 season” (March 28) and flights to Riyadh will be suspended until March 25.

Further reading:

• Aviation is ready to fly again… and very quickly
• Rising air fares are ‘oil-related, not opportunism’
• Al Ain: the little-known UAE airport’s part in Iran conflict

Low-cost airline Wizz Air suspended flights to Israel until March 29 and to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Amman and Jeddah from mainland European destinations until the middle of September.

Since hostilities began on February 28 through to March 11 inclusive there were more than 85,500 flights scheduled in and out of the Middle East, with over 46,000 flights cancelled so far, according to the latest data from aviation analytics company Cirium.

On March 11, according to Cirium, there were 16 flights from Doha, no flights from Bahrain, 34 flights from Abu Dhabi, 55 flights from Muscat and 149 flights from Dubai (DXB).