After U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran sparked retaliatory fire and shuttered airspace across the Middle East, Dubai’s airports have begun a fragile return to service, with the first flights departing Monday evening following the cancellation of over 11,000 journeys since Saturday.
Local authorities greenlit only a handful of operations at Dubai International and Al Maktoum International, as airlines scramble to reconnect a region where hundreds of thousands of passengers remain stranded—not just those bound to or from the area, but anyone whose path crossed the sealed zones, according to IATA and Reuters analysis.
Emirates broke the ice with its EK500, an Airbus A380 thundering off at 9:12 p.m. local time towards Mumbai, tracked live by Flightradar24. Flydubai soon followed with a Warsaw run after 1 a.m. Tuesday, while Air Baltic repositioned an empty jet from the hub.
“We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority,” Emirates posted on X. “All other flights remain suspended until further notice.” The airline flagged a “limited number of flights” from that night but urged passengers to stay away without direct word.
Israel’s El Al, meanwhile, eyes private charters like KlasJet to ferry stranded nationals from Europe to Jordan’s Aqaba, ditching an Egypt plan “due to the lack of approval from the security authorities in Israel.” Neighbouring Etihad in Abu Dhabi holds passenger services until Wednesday afternoon, permitting some cargo and relief flights “subject to strict operational and safety protocols.”
The clashes triggered a weekend aviation blackout, spiking oil prices 5% and forcing reroutes that guzzle extra fuel for carriers like Lufthansa and Qatar Airways. Dubai Airports, which managed 89 million passengers in 2025 per Airports Council International figures, stresses real-time checks via apps amid fluid schedules.
Analysts at CAPA Centre for Aviation foresee quicker recovery if no further flares erupt, though higher insurance and slot scrambles could linger.