Some flights as governments seek to extract citizens
While most commercial air traffic in the Middle East remains suspended, passengers stranded by an expanding war have begun leaving the United Arab Emirates on a small number of evacuation flights.
The limited flights from Dubai and Abu Dhabi came as the US State Department urged its citizens in 13 countries, including the UAE, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Lebanon and Oman, to “depart by commercial means due to serious security risks”.
Major airspace closures and flight cancellations in the region have left far fewer options for heeding advice.
Since US and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes against Israel and Gulf states began on Saturday, commercial flights have been grounded or heavily restricted; This has left tourists, business travelers, migrant workers and religious visitors stranded in hotels, airports and cruise ships.
Airspace remained closed over Iran, Iraq and Israel on Monday.
Jordan initiated a temporary shutdown on Monday afternoon.
Partial or temporary closures may be extended in other countries in the Gulf, including Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, according to flight tracking service Flightradar24.
The service showed that flights to King Khalid International Airport near Riyadh were halted or returned following reports of drone-related explosions in Riyadh.
About 13,000 of about 32,000 flights scheduled to and from the Middle East have been canceled since Saturday, aviation analytics firm Cirium said.
Henry Harteveldt, president of travel market research firm Atmescent Research Group, said airlines operating evacuation flights are likely doing so with government support, and carriers’ home countries may assume some of the financial risk.
“Airlines will not resume operations until they are completely confident that the risk of their aircraft being attacked is zero or as close to zero as possible,” Harteveldt said.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai-based long-haul carriers Etihad Airways and Emirates and budget carrier FlyDubai said on Monday they would operate limited flights from the country, where air defense systems have been deployed to thwart Iranian missiles and drones.
According to Flightradar24, at least 16 Etihad flights departed from Abu Dhabi within a three-hour period on Monday to destinations including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Moscow and London.
However, the airline’s website said all regularly scheduled commercial flights were suspended until Wednesday afternoon.
Emirates said that customers who book earlier will be given priority in seats on the limited flights it plans to operate from Monday evening.
FlyDubai said it will operate four outbound and five inbound flights.
Dubai Airports, the authority that operates the city’s two airports, showed a higher number of flights on Tuesday but warned passengers to only travel to airports if airlines notify them with approval as operations remain limited.
The disruptions have been far-reaching as Gulf airports serve as critical global transit hubs connecting Europe, Africa and Asia. Dubai International Airport alone reached a record 95.2 million passengers last year, making it the world’s busiest airport when measured by international travel.
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