Emirates and Etihad Airways were resuming limited flight schedules to key global cities from their United Arab Emirates hubs on Friday (6 March), though the ongoing threat of missile fire piled pressure on airlines.
With most airspace in the Middle East still closed over missile and drone concerns since the start of the U.S.-Israel war against Iran last weekend, authorities have been arranging charter flights and securing seats on limited commercial services to evacuate tens of thousands of people.
A government-chartered Air France flight to bring French nationals back from the United Arab Emirates was forced to turn back on Thursday due to missile fire in the area, French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot said.
"This situation reflects the instability in the region and the complexity of repatriation operations," he said.
Etihad said on Friday it would resume a limited flight schedule through 19 March. The flights will operate to and from Abu Dhabi and 25 destinations including London, Paris, Frankfurt, Delhi, New York and Toronto.
As of Thursday, traffic at Dubai airport, normally the world's busiest, had almost doubled from Wednesday, but remained only about 25% of normal levels, flight-tracking website Flightradar24 said.
Dubai-based Emirates, one of the UAE's two flag carriers, said late on Thursday it was operating a reduced flight schedule to 82 destinations including London, Sydney, Singapore and New York until further notice.
The limited operations at Middle Eastern hubs have hit travellers on routes from Europe to the Asia-Pacific region particularly hard.
Combined, Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways normally fly about one-third of passengers from Europe to Asia and more than half of all passengers from Europe to Australia, New Zealand and nearby Pacific Islands, according to Cirium data.
Qatar's Doha hub remains shut, though it has been arranging a limited number of relief flights from Oman and Saudi Arabia.
Data from Cirium showed that from 28 February, when the conflict started to 5 March, there were more than 44,000 flights scheduled in and out of the Middle East, with more than 25,000 flights cancelled so far.
Higher oil prices have sent jet fuel costs soaring, with Singapore jet fuel reaching a record high of $225 a barrel this week, which traders attributed to concerns about supply shortages from Middle Eastern refiners.
The price eased slightly on Thursday to about $195 a barrel after some profit-taking but remained nearly double that of last week.
Shares of Qantas Airways fell more than 3% on Friday, Air New Zealand was down nearly 7%, Hong Kong's flagship carrier Cathay Pacific dropped more than 2%, while Singapore Airlines was down more than 1%.
Travellers describe chaos in scramble to leave
Passengers have been forking out huge sums of money to get out of the Middle East, with some who managed to travel back by commercial flight on Thursday from Oman saying it had been "absolute chaos" to find their way back home from Dubai.
"We paid £1,500 ($2,005.05) to get across to Muscat (Oman) to get on the plane," said Ed Short after he arrived at London's Heathrow Airport on a British Airways flight.
With the conflict showing little sign of easing, wider aviation and air-cargo disruption looked set to linger.
Saudi budget carrier Flynas will run a limited number of flights between Saudi Arabia and Dubai starting on Friday.
The U.S. military began a blockade of Iran's ports on Monday, President Donald Trump said, and Tehran threaten...
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to join a U.S.-led blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, distancing Britain from military escalation after f...
Israeli and Lebanese ambassadors to the United States will meet later in Washington to discuss a ceasefire, with U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubi...
Iran's ports were blocked by the U.S. military on Monday (13 April), President Donald Trump confirmed. Tehran has threatened to retaliate again...
U.S. President Donald Trump warned that any Iranian ships approaching ports in the Strait of Hormuz would be "immediately elimi...
South Korea is close to finalising an agreement to import crude oil from Kazakhstan, according to Industry Minister Kim Jung-kwan, as the country seeks to diversify its energy supplies amid disruptions in the Middle East, he said on Sunday, 12 April, according to Reuters.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Thursday (9 April) he is seeking direct talks with Beirut, a day after the deadliest bombardment of the war killed more than 250 people in Lebanon and put Donald Trump’s U.S.–Iran ceasefire at risk.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says he has given an instruction for Israel to begin peace talks with Lebanon that would also include the disarming of Hezbollah.
Memorial events were held in Tehran’s main squares on Wednesday (8 April) to mark the 40th day since the killing of former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who died during U.S.-Israeli attacks on 28 February.
Israel has reprimanded Spain’s most senior diplomat in Tel Aviv after a giant effigy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was blown up in a Spanish town.
U.S. President Donald Trump warned that any Iranian ships approaching ports in the Strait of Hormuz would be "immediately eliminated" on Monday, as the U.S. started its blockade.
Nine suspects were arrested on Saturday (11 April) in connection with a terror attack targeting a police post in Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district.
Millions of Orthodox Christians across the globe celebrated Easter, known as Holy Pascha, on Sunday (12 April) with midnight liturgies, candlelight processions and deeply rooted local traditions reflecting centuries of faith.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of violating a 32-hour ceasefire introduced to mark Orthodox Easter on Saturday (11 April). Russian officials said Ukrainian drones attacked targets in the Kursk and Belgorod border regions, injuring five people.
Dubai has restricted foreign airlines to one daily flight to its airports until 31 May due to the Iran crisis, raising fears of significant revenue losses for Indian carriers, industry letters show.
Flag carrier Vietnam Airlines plans to cancel 23 flights per week across several domestic routes from April because of looming jet fuel shortages, Vietnam's aviation authority said.
The pilot and co-pilot of an Air Canada Express regional jet were killed after it collided with a fire truck while landing at New York's LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, in an incident that closed the airport, authorities and U.S. media said.
The ongoing conflict involving Iran is set to disrupt global travel on a massive scale, with nearly 28 million outbound trips from the Middle East at risk this year, according to Oxford Economics.
The Colosseum in Rome has reopened its southern corridors as a public square following a four-year restoration, giving visitors free access to a long-lost part of the ancient monument. The newly restored area was unveiled on Tuesday (17 March).
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment