Gulf carriers reinstate more flights and destinations as IATA summer season starts

Airports across the region no longer appear, at least for now, to be prime targets for Iranian drones. At the same time, civil aviation authorities in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have implemented enhanced monitoring systems to ensure both airport operations and air corridor safety.

As a result, flight schedules for major airlines in Abu Dhabi, Doha, Dubai, Muscat and Sharjah are returning to more typical operations with the launch of the summer timetable starting March 28. For now, schedules offered by Air Arabia, Emirates, Etihad, flydubai, and Qatar Airways are valid through either April 15 or April 30.

Meanwhile, damage to airports in Bahrain and Kuwait is preventing any resumption of traffic from those two hubs. However, Gulf Air is flying instead from Dammam airport in Saudi Arabia, located 85 km from Bahrain. The carrier flies to 11 destinations: Bangkok, Cairo, Casablanca, Frankfurt, Jeddah, London- Heathrow, Manila, Mumbai, Nairobi and Paris CDG.  

A network gradually expanding again

Air Arabia serves from Abu Dhabi, Ras-al-Khaimah and Sharjah -its main base-45 destinations, a far cry from the over 100 routes served from the UAE before the Gulf conflict. As an example, the airline only flies for the time being in Europe to Vienna, compared to over a dozen of cities in February 2026. The airline still plans to start flights from Sharjah to London Gatwick and Rome in June and July.

Emirates now serves 127 destinations, close to its pre-conflict network. Around a dozen routes—mainly in Australia and the Middle East—remain suspended. However, ten routes have resumed. This includes Bogota, Bologna, Entebbe, Houston, Los Angeles, Luanda, Lyon, Miami, Osaka Kansai and Venice. 

Etihad Airways has also expanded its schedule, now serving 75 destinations. The Abu Dhabi-based carrier has resumed flights to nine additional cities : Dammam, Dusseldorf, Jaipur, Johannesburg, Medan Kualanamu, Osaka Kansai, Peshawar, Phnom Penh and Taipei although about ten routes -mainly in the Middle East, remain suspended.

flydubai is once again offering more than 100 destinations to and from Dubai—30 more than in mid-March. The airline is resuming air services to Al’Ula, Al Jouf, Al Qaisumah, Ankara, Astana, Bandar Abbas, Basel-Mulhouse, Beirut, Doha, Ekaterinburg, Gizan, Ha’il, Hofuf, Krakow, Kuwait City, Mineralnye Vody, Nejran, Neom Bay, Novosibirsk, Pisa, Poznan, Red Sea, Riga, St. Petersburg, Salalah, Salzburg, Samara, Sochi, Taif and Yanbu.

Oman Air flies to 42 destinations but suspended for now frequencies to 10 cities. Services to Amman and Dammam will however resume on 1 April 2026, while the rest of the network continues to operate as normal.

Qatar Airways has resumed service to 85 destinations, although its European network remains significantly reduced, with only 14 cities served through April 15 compared to over 40 European destinations prior to the Gulf conflict. Resumed routes include flights from Doha to Addis Ababa, Athens, Casablanca, Denpasar, Karachi, Larnaca, Miami, Moscow Sheremetyevo, Phnom Penh, Seoul and Thiruvananthapuram. 

Despite these improvements, as long as the situation in the Persian Gulf remains uncertain, regional airlines are urging passengers to carefully check that their scheduled flights are operating and to travel to the airport only with confirmed bookings.

All airlines are currently offering full flexibility on reservations and refund conditions. They will also rebook travelers on the next available flight.