Limited flights leave UAE but disruption continues amid Iran strikes

Rachel Clun,Business reporterand

Theo Leggett,International Business Correspondent

A limited number of flights have been able to leave the United Arab Emirates as departures across the Middle East continue to be disrupted by the joint Israeli and US war on Iran.

More than 4,000 flights a day have been cancelled 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,” director of communications Ian Petchenik said.

The ongoing airline disruption comes as more than 100,000 Britons have registered their presence in the Middle East with the UK government.

On Monday morning, 79% of global flights to Qatar and 71% of flights to the United Arab Emirates had been cancelled, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium, while 81% of flights to Israel and 92% of flights to Bahrain have also been grounded.

United Arab Emirates national carrier Etihad Airways had suspended services until 14:00 local time (10:00 GMT) on Tuesday. But there were some ad-hoc departures on Monday, including an Etihad flight to London Heathrow (EY67), which is due to land in the UK in the early evening.

Other Etihad flights have left for destinations including Moscow, Paris, Cairo, Delhi and Karachi, according to the flight-tracking service Flightradar 24.

The airline told Reuters, “Some repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights may operate in coordination with UAE authorities and subject to strict operational and safety approvals”. All regular scheduled services remain cancelled.

Dubai Airports has announced on social media that a “limited resumption of operations” will begin on Monday evening, with a small number of flights allowed to operate from the region’s two main hubs – Dubai International and Dubai World Central.

The Dubai-based airline Emirates says it will accommodate customers with earlier bookings on these flights as a priority, and will contact passengers directly.

No flights are so far taking off or landing from Doha, as Qatari airspace remains closed.

Earlier in the day, Qatar’s national airline Qatar Airways said its flight operations remain temporarily suspended on Monday due to the closure of Qatari airspace.

“Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace,” the airline wrote on X.

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.

Ian Scott, from Wedmore in Somerset, told BBC Your Voice he had been travelling back from Melbourne to Venice when his Saturday morning flight out of Doha was forced to turn back mid-air due to the conflict.

“We were in airport for 15 hours before evacuation to a hotel. That was full and we had to shelter underground due to close explosions,” he said.

Since then, Scott said he could hear blasts in the area, and is still waiting for an opportunity to leave.

Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the BBC the situation was “deeply stressful” for those affected. She said many of those stuck were people travelling for holiday or business.

Asked if the government was considering launching an evacuation, she said it was in close contact with airlines, airports, Middle Eastern governments and the travel industry.

Cooper added that in previous situations similar to this, the government had worked with airlines to bring people home on normal flights.

Paul Charles, from travel consultancy firm the PC Agency, said the disruption in air travel in the Middle East was having a knock-on effect around the world.

“Indeed at Sao Paolo airport yesterday I saw two Qatar airways planes still on the ground there because they can’t fly to the Middle East at the moment,” he said.

“Flights are entirely full via other countries because the passengers who were due to go to the Middle East have to reroute via somewhere else in order to find safe haven.”

With additional reporting from Bernadette McCague