Iran strikes: Dubai flights remain ‘limited’
Passenger Mohd Umardaraz from Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, was stranded at Terminal-3 Delhi airport after his flight to Kuwait was canceled due to airspace restrictions over Iran and parts of the Middle East in New Delhi, India, on March 1, 2026.
Arvind Yadav | Hindustan Times | Getty Images
The first flights were allowed to depart from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Monday after more than 11,000 flights were canceled in the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on Saturday.
It’s a sign that airlines are preparing to restart service to the region after mass cancellations, although local authorities have given the green light to airlines to resume only a “limited number” of flights.
The first was Emirates flight EK500, which departed for Mumbai, India, at 21:12 local time, according to flight tracking site Flightradar24. The flight was carried out with the world’s largest passenger aircraft, Airbus A380.
Another Flydubai flight to Warsaw, Poland, departed after 1am local time on Tuesday, Flightradar24 said. The Air Baltic flight left Dubai but the Latvia-based airline said it was only a repositioning flight, not carrying passengers.
Separately, Israeli airline El Al said on Monday it was considering chartering private jets to bring stranded Israeli citizens home.
The announcements mark a potential recovery after air travel ground to a halt across much of the Middle East over the weekend following US-Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliatory strikes.
The attacks closed airspace over large parts of the region and stranded hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, including those unable to fly into the region because planes were unable to pass through them. Dubai is one of the world’s busiest air travel hubs.
The airport authority, which owns and manages airports in Dubai, said a small number of flights would be allowed from Dubai International and Dubai World Center – Al Maktoum International but advised passengers to check with their airlines.
For your part, emirates It said it would begin operating a “limited number of flights” on Monday night and urged customers not to travel to the airport unless notified by the airline.
“We primarily accommodate our customers with early bookings,” said a post on X. “All other flights will be suspended until further notice,” it was said.
El Al said the airline is considering leasing KlasJet planes to carry passengers from European airports to Aqaba on Jordan’s southern border for its customers. The company, which had previously considered flying to the Egyptian city of Taba and leaving there, announced later on Monday that this plan was canceled “due to the lack of approval from the security authorities in Israel.”
Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE, said on Monday that all commercial flights to and from the city were suspended until afternoon local time on Wednesday, but it could operate some cargo and repatriation flights “subject to strict operational and safety protocols.”
