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Airlines continue to respond to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with British Airways the latest carrier to “temporarily reduce” its services across the region.
In an update issued on 10 March, BA said it has cancelled all flights to and from Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv “until later this month”, while services to and from Abu Dhabi have been cancelled “until later this year”.
BA has been operating a number of repatriation flights to help stranded passengers return home.
Following its final repatriation services from Muscat, Oman, to London Heathrow on 11 and 12 March, the flights “will pause due to reduced demand” and the airline will be “keeping the situation under constant review”.
Qatar Airways confirms more repatriation flights
Qatar Airways continues to offer limited repatriation services to and from Hamad International Airport in Doha after temporary flight corridors were authorised by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority.
While the airline says that these flights “do not constitute a confirmation of the resumption of scheduled commercial operations”, it has confirmed flights to and from Doha over the next few days.
Flights departing from Doha
- Wednesday 11 March: Cairo (CAI), Toronto (YYZ), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL).
- Thursday 12 March: Cairo (CAI), Casablanca (CMN), Johannesburg (JNB), Sao Paulo (GRU), New York (JFK), Frankfurt (FRA), Madrid (MAD), London (LHR), Beijing (PKX), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Islamabad (ISB), Colombo (CMB), Jakarta (CGK), Manila (MNL).
Flights arriving to Doha
- Wednesday 11 March: Cairo (CAI), London Heathrow (LHR), Jeddah (JED), Manila (MNL), Kochi (COK), Muscat (MCT), Istanbul (IST), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Nairobi (NBO), Islamabad (ISB), Madrid (MAD), Frankfurt (FRA), Colombo (CMB), Milan (MXP), Moscow (SVO).
- Thursday 12 March: Cairo (CAI), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL).
- Friday 13 March: Cairo (CAI), Casablanca (CMN), Johannesburg (JNB), Sao Paulo (GRU), New York (JFK), Frankfurt (FRA), Madrid (MAD), London (LHR), Beijing (PKX), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Islamabad (ISB), Colombo (CMB), Jakarta (CGK), Manila (MNL).
Up to 8,000 passengers were reported to have been stranded in Qatar with the government covering the costs of hotel accommodation and extending their visas.
Oman Air helps 97,000 passengers ‘get home’
Muscat International Airport in Oman’s capital city has been a key transit point providing relief flights for passengers who were unable to take off from the UAE due to ongoing regional airspace closures.
Over the past week Oman Air has operated almost 80 extra flights and “helped more than 97,000 passengers get home”, it said in a statement on X.
The airline will continue to “add extra frequencies where operationally possible” and additional bus support services have “also been made available for those crossing the land border from the UAE to Oman to catch onward flights”.
The “vast majority” of its international network, spanning Europe, South-East Asia, and Africa, is “operating as planned”.
However, Oman Air has confirmed that flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Baghdad, and Khasab are cancelled from 9-15 March.
Emirates expects to return to full flight capacity in the “coming days”, following the partial re-opening of regional airspace in the UAE. The Dubai-based carrier has been operating a reduced flight schedule while working to restore full network operations.
Etihad Airways has also restarted a “limited flight schedule” operating from its hub at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi. The airline has listed more than 70 destinations that it planned to fly to between 6 and 19 March.
Airlines issue updates to Middle East schedules
Air Arabia has started operating a limited number of flights to and from the UAE, subject to operational and regulatory approvals. From 6-22 March, limited flights will be operating between Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah to more than 40 destinations.
Air India and Air India Express will together operate a total of 58 scheduled and non-scheduled flights to and from the West Asia region on 11 March. The two carriers continue to operate their respective scheduled services to and from Jeddah and Muscat on 11 March, operate a total of eight flights to and from Jeddah, and Air India Express operating 14 scheduled flights to and from Muscat.
On 11 March, Air India will operate one round-trip each from Delhi and Mumbai to Jeddah, and Air India Express will operate one round-trip each from Hyderabad and Kozhikode to Jeddah. Air India Express will also operate its scheduled services to Muscat, including one round-trip each from Delhi, Mumbai, Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli, and two round-trips from Kochi.
Virgin Atlantic’s seasonal Dubai service is now suspended for the remainder of the winter season. The airline’s flights to Riyadh have also now paused for the next two weeks and will “continue to be assessed on an ongoing basis in line with the latest safety guidance”.
Saudia has extended the suspension of flights to and from Amman, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Bahrain until 11:59 pm GMT on 12 March. Flight cancellations to and from Moscow and Peshawar remain extended until 15 March.
Gulf Air flight operations remain temporarily suspended. The airline will resume services once the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs confirms the safe reopening of the affected airspace.
Low-cost carrier Wizz Air has suspended all flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman up to and including Sunday 15 March.
Turkish Airlines has cancelled flights to and from Bahrain, Dammam and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria and the UAE.
Air France is “monitoring the evolving situation in the region in real-time”, but due to the closure of certain airspaces it has been forced to extend the suspension of its flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until 12 March inclusive and to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut until 13 March.
Dutch airline KLM is currently not flying through the airspace of Iran, Iraq and Israel, nor over several countries in the Gulf region. Flights to, from, or via destinations in the region are cancelled or adjusted. KLM’s Tel Aviv flights are suspended for the remainder of its winter season operations, while flights to and from Dubai are suspended up to and including Wednesday 11 March.
Lufthansa Group airlines – which includes Lufthansa, SWISS International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Eurowings – has suspended flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until and including 15 March; to and from Dammam until 15 March; to and from Amman and Erbil until 15 March; to and from Tel Aviv until 2 April; to and from Beirut until 28 March; and to and from Tehran until 30 April.
Air Canada has said that all flights to and from Dubai and Tel Aviv are currently suspended and restarting on 23 March.
Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s flag carrier, temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha “until further notice”, the company said in a statement.
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