Dubai sees biggest return of Gulf flights amid Iran missiles

Dubai’s flag carrier has been able to recover more of its network capacity compared with other airlines in the Gulf or the wider United Arab Emirates

• Emirates operates at 60% of pre-war flights, more than rivals.
• Etihad and Qatar Airways run fewer flights amid Gulf tensions.
• Bahrain, Kuwait airspace shut; flights rerouted through Saudi.

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Airlines in the Persian Gulf are slowly starting to increase flights even as countries continue to intercept missiles and drones from Iran in their skies.

Emirates, the world’s largest international carrier, is operating a reduced flight schedule to about 100 destinations in more than 50 countries. That’s significantly lower than the number of destinations the airline typically serves, and the frequency of flights remains restricted.

Dubai’s flag carrier has been able to recover more of its network capacity compared with other airlines in the Gulf or the wider United Arab Emirates. On Monday, Emirates operated about 60% of flights it served before the war started 11 days ago, according to data from Flightradar24.

Since Friday, most flights out of the impacted countries in the Gulf operated from Dubai International Airport, according to data from analytics company Cirium Ltd. More than 300 flights departed Dubai in that period, compared with less than 100 from Abu Dhabi and 23 from Doha.

On Monday, Etihad Airways operated less than 20% of its regularly scheduled flights, and Qatar Airways about 7%.

Emirates has said it will be able to resume full operations in coming days. At the same time, aircraft have been forced into longer approaches as the military intercepts missiles and drones.

Early Tuesday, at least six aircraft were in holding patterns outside the UAE waiting for permission to land at Emirates’ hub of Dubai International Airport.

Qatar Airways, the region’s second biggest operator, will fly to 16 destinations — including London, Moscow and Milan — on Tuesday. It will operate another 15 routes Wednesday to help evacuate people and repatriate residents.

The flights “do not constitute a confirmation of the resumption of scheduled commercial operations,” the airline said in a statement.

The carriers have started posting their new schedules online as they try to attain some semblance of regularly scheduled operations. Etihad will operate 21 flights Tuesday and 29 Wednesday.

The routes are still only a fraction of what the airlines, some of the world’s biggest and the main carriers of transit travelers, typically operate. While the companies haven’t discussed the impact from the war, some have put discussions with planemakers and aircraft lessors on hold as they assess their needs, Bloomberg reported this week.

Bahrain and Kuwait’s airspace remain closed as the countries deal with a barrage of missiles from Iran and damages to the airports. Airlines in those countries have started operating flights from several points in Saudi Arabia.

Qatar Airways is also operating some flights out of Oman, where airspace remains open and traffic is surging.