Updated Thursday 16 April at 5:00 PM
Since February 28th, the skies of the Middle East have been in turmoil, even though some airlines, particularly from the Gulf, are regaining momentum. An updated look at flight cancellations and suspensions by airline, and the outlook for the summer season.
European companies
Air France has suspended its routes to and from Dubai, Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Beirut until May 3rd (until May 4th for flights departing from Dubai). In parallel, the crisis in the Gulf has led to the deployment of additional capacity to the most in-demand Asian destinations with extra flights to Bangkok, Singapore, Bangalore, Tokyo and Osaka for the 2026 summer season and the use of larger aircraft on certain flights to Delhi and Mumbai.
TRANSAVIA FRANCE is suspending its flights to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut until July 5th, with affected passengers being offered the option to rebook their flight free of charge or receive a refund for their ticket.
KLM has stopped its flights to and from Riyadh and Dammam until 17 May, with routes to Tel Aviv and Beirut also disrupted until this date. Flights to and from Dubai are suspended until 14 June.
Aegean Airlines has suspended its services to Dubai and Riyadh airports until April 19th, to Tel Aviv, Beirut, and Amman until April 23rd, and to Erbil and Baghdad until May 25th.
Air Europa has cancelled all its flights to Tel Aviv until 31 May.
BRITISH AIRWAYS has cancelled its flights to Doha until April 30th and to Amman, Bahrain, Dubai, and Tel Aviv until May 31st. As for Abu Dhabi, services will not resume until October 25th. In parallel, the British carrier will add flights from Muscat, in Oman, as well as from Bangkok and Singapore.
LUFTHANSA, SWISS, BRUSSELS AIRLINES, AUSTRIAN AIRLINES, and ITA AIRWAYS will not serve Tel Aviv, and Dubai will not be served before May 31st. For certain destinations, the suspension is extended until the autumn, specifically October 24th, for routes to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat, and Tehran. Meanwhile, EUROWINGS will not resume flights to Beirut, Erbil, and Tel Aviv before April 30th. In parallel, its connections to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman are suspended until October 24th.
IBERIA is suspending its route to Tel Aviv until April 30th and must cancel certain flights to and from Doha, hence a flexible policy for travellers who have purchased tickets for flights until May 31st (see its website for flight status).
LOT Polish Airlines is cancelling its routes to and from Riyadh until 30 June, and to and from Tel Aviv until 31 May, while not serving Beirut Airport between 31 March and 30 May.
TURKISH AIRLINES has announced the cancellation of some of its flights to and from the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Iran, Iraq, and Syria, as well as Dammam and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. Please check the airline's website for flight status. (https://www.turkishairlines.com/en-tr/flights/flight-status/)
WIZZ AIR has, according to The Times of Israel, suspended all of its flights to and from Israel up to and including April 20th. According to the British website Mirror, its flights to and from Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman from continental European destinations will be suspended "until mid-September."
Gulf Companies
EMIRATES is currently operating a flight programme close to its pre-conflict network. As part of this, from 29 March to 30 April, Emirates will offer two daily flights to Paris and five flights per week to Nice, as well as to Lyon, with this service having resumed, at a rate of four weekly flights. websiteMost major global metropolises are also on its flight schedule.
ETIHAD has also expanded its programme with 80 destinations served from or to Abu Dhabi. Etihad therefore offers two daily connections to Paris-CDG, one of which is by A380, as well as five weekly flights to Brussels and Geneva, by B787.
GULF AIR will see a more sustained level of activity in Bahrain, while still deferring some routes to Dammam airport in Saudi Arabia. Up until now, the airline only served London, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Islamabad, Lahore, Nairobi and Istanbul from its home airport. Approximately fifty destinations will now be progressively offered from there. Paris will benefit from three weekly flights starting on April 21st, and Nice will have two flights per week starting on May 23rd. Frankfurt, Milan, Moscow, Geneva: all these cities, among others, will be added to the schedule in the coming weeks, in addition to most major cities in the Middle East, as well as flights to Singapore, Shanghai and New York.
In parallel, until the end of April, Gulf Air will continue to offer flights from King Fahd Airport in Dammam. The airline's routes to Athens, Casablanca, Cairo, Manila, Mumbai and Chennai, Bangkok, Islamabad and Lahore are based there until at least April 20th, and until the end of the month for some.
KUWAIT AIRLINES, like Gulf Air, uses Dammam Airport to maintain part of its operations, with flights offered in April to 13 destinations: Paris, London, Istanbul, Amman, Cairo, Lahore, Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Kochi, Chennai, Colombo, and Manila. It should be noted that passengers are transferred by bus from Al Khairan Mall in Kuwait to King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
Oman Air has suspended its flights to and from Doha, Kuwait, Copenhagen and Baghdad until April 30th. For the rest, the airline plans to operate its network to Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa as normal. Its flights to Dubai, Bahrain and Khasab will resume from April 18th.
QATAR AIRWAYS is continuing to expand its offering, which is expected to increase to over 120 destinations on its global network by mid-May, and then to 150 destinations from mid-June. This will be for a flight schedule valid until 15th September. Currently, the Qatari airline serves Paris – with a daily A350 flight – London or New York, but also around twenty major cities in Europe and a large number of cities in Asia. Other destinations will be added shortly, including Geneva and Vienna from 16th April, and Nice and London Gatwick from 16th May. Among the recently announced new routes, several European cities will be connected to Doha from 16th June, including Brussels, Düsseldorf, Lisbon, Oslo, Prague, and Zagreb. Also from mid-June, the Qatari airline will resume its services to Middle Eastern cities, whether it be Abu Dhabi and Dubai, Bahrain and Kuwait, or Baghdad and Damascus. its site).
SAUDIA dedicates a page of its site where travellers can check the status of their flight. Since April 11, the Saudi company has notably partially resumed its flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman.
Near Eastern Companies:
EGYPT AIR has announced that it has suspended its flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Amman, Beirut, Doha, Dammam, Bahrain, Baghdad, Erbil and Kuwait until April 20th. However, the connection with Amman appears to have resumed, with a flight between the Egyptian and Jordanian capitals being offered on April 3rd.
EL AL is reviewing its flight plan in light of the evolving situation in the Near and Middle East and new directives from the Israeli Home Front Command. Originally planning only essential activity until April 18th with eight destinations served to and from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, the Israeli airline is gradually returning to its usual flight schedule. Starting this week, EL AL will progressively increase its offerings to nearly 40 destinations. " Throughout the month, we will continue to progressively extend the number of destinations, until a full return to our operations across our entire network. "says the company.
In the meantime, the routes already proposed will remain on the programme, namely those to Paris, London, Milan, Rome and Athens in Europe, and to New York (JFK and Newark), Miami and Los Angeles in the United States. In addition to Marseille, almost thirty European cities will be added – Amsterdam, Barcelona, Batumi, Berlin, Bucharest, Budapest, Krakow, Frankfurt, Larnaca, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Moscow, Munich, Paphos, Prague, Rhodes, Sofia, Thessaloniki, Tallinn, Tbilisi, Vienna, Warsaw and Zurich – as well as three destinations in Asia – Bangkok, Phuket and Tokyo – and Boston in the United States.
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ROYAL JORDANIAN is proposing an almost normal flight schedule at Amman airport, particularly for serving major European cities, including Paris. Flynas, Ethiopian Airlines, and Fly Arabia also serve the Jordanian capital, recently joined by Emirates and Etihad.
American and Asian companies:
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Air India is resuming its services to Muscat, Riyadh, and Jeddah, but has suspended its routes to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and other UAE airports, as well as to Doha, Dammam, Bahrain, and Kuwait, Salalah in Oman, and Tel Aviv. Nevertheless, the Indian airline, along with its low-cost carrier Air India Express, will be able to offer flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah outside its usual schedule.
American Airlines aims to resume the New York – Tel Aviv route on April 23rd and the Philadelphia – Doha service on May 7th.
CATHAY PACIFIC has stopped its flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until June 30.
DELTA AIR LINES has suspended its New York-Tel Aviv and Atlanta-Tel Aviv routes until September 5. The Boston-Tel Aviv route, planned for late October, has also been postponed.
JAPAN AIRLINES has frozen its Tokyo Haneda-Doha route until May 10th.
Malaysia Airlines has suspended its flights to and from Doha until June 14.
Singapore Airlines has cancelled its service to Dubai until May 31st.
