Middle East airspace closure cancels 13,000 flights

• UAE restarts flights from DXB
• Repatriation and recovery priority
• Thousands of passengers stranded

Just over 5 percent of scheduled departures from Dubai International Airport (DXB) resumed on Tuesday as airlines scrambled to reposition planes and repatriate thousands of stranded passengers, industry data shows.

Airspace over the UAE and much of the wider region has been largely shut since Saturday, when Iran launched retaliatory strikes across the GCC following coordinated attacks by the US and Israel that killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

The closure effectively grounded one of the world’s busiest international gateways – about 900,000 seats per day are scheduled to fly to the Middle East from abroad and within the region – stranding thousands of transit passengers and forcing carriers to suspend or divert services linking Europe, Asia and Africa. 

Almost 13,000 flights to and from the Middle East were cancelled during the first three days of the regional conflict with Iran, according to the latest figures from aviation analytics company Cirium.

But on Tuesday afternoon it was announced that limited operations would resume from some airports as carriers prioritised repatriation and recovery flights, including DXB, Dubai World Central, Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah International Airport.

Almost 12 percent of scheduled flights from Zayed airport took off and just over 1 percent from Sharjah. Those travelling west are being sent through Saudi airspace, avoiding the usual routes across Iran.

Qatar Airways said on Tuesday morning that commercial operations would be suspended for another day, with a further update on Wednesday at 9am local time. Just two flights left Hamad International Airport on Tuesday.

Gulf Air also confirmed that flights would remain grounded, with the next update due on Wednesday at 11am local time.

No movement occurred at Bahrain International Airport on Tuesday, as per Cirium data, while Kuwait International Airport saw almost 16 percent of flights take off.

Saudia has confirmed that flights to and from Amman, Kuwait, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha, Bahrain, Moscow and Peshawar will remain cancelled until 23:59 GMT on Wednesday. Airports in Riyadh and Jeddah were the busiest in the region on Tuesday, according to Cirium, with both having 80 percent of flights depart.

Oman Air has cancelled all flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Baghdad and Khasab until Friday.

German tourism group TUI will from Tuesday offer flights home to customers stranded in the Middle East, according to widely reported comments from CEO Sebastian Ebel, who was speaking to broadcaster NTV.

He said around 30,000 German tourists were stuck in the region, of whom TUI customers made up one third.

Indian operator SpiceJet said it would operate four special flights from the UAE on Tuesday to repatriate stranded Indians. Operations between Fujairah and Delhi and Fujairah and Mumbai will start on Wednesday, according to news reports.

Air France said on Monday it had cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh up to and including Thursday. KLM, the Dutch arm of the group, has cancelled flights to and from Dammam, Dubai and Riyadh until March 9.