After more than a week of disruption to aviation across the Middle East, repatriation flights have resumed in Qatar as authorities gradually reopen parts of the country’s airspace.
Qatar Airways has confirmed it is operating limited repatriation services to and from Hamad International Airport in Doha after temporary flight corridors were authorised by the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority.
While the airline has begun operating a number of services to help stranded passengers return home, Qatar Airways said these flights “do not constitute a confirmation of the resumption of scheduled commercial operations”.
Up to 8,000 passengers were reported to have been stranded in Qatar with the government covering the costs of hotel accommodation and extending their visas.
Flights departing from Doha
- Tuesday 10 March: Cairo (CAI), London Heathrow (LHR), Jeddah (JED), Manila (MNL), Kochi (COK), Muscat (MCT), Istanbul (IST), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Nairobi (NBO), Islamabad (ISB), Madrid (MAD), Frankfurt (FRA), Colombo (CMB), Milan (MXP), Moscow (SVO).
- Wednesday 11 March: Cairo (CAI), Toronto (YYZ), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL).
Flights arriving to Doha
- Tuesday 10 March: Seoul (ICN), Moscow (SVO), London Heathrow (LHR), Delhi (DEL), Madrid (MAD), Islamabad (ISB), Beijing (PKX), Perth (PER), Nairobi (NBO), Istanbul (IST).
- Wednesday 11 March: Cairo (CAI), London Heathrow (LHR), Jeddah (JED), Manila (MNL), Kochi (COK), Muscat (MCT), Istanbul (IST), Mumbai (BOM), Delhi (DEL), Nairobi (NBO), Islamabad (ISB), Madrid (MAD), Frankfurt (FRA), Colombo (CMB), Milan (MXP), Moscow (SVO).
- Thursday 12 March: Cairo (CAI), Toronto (YYZ), Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), London Heathrow (LHR), Paris (CDG), Madrid (MAD), Rome (FCO), Delhi (DEL), Jeddah (JED), Muscat (MCT), Hong Kong (HKG), Seoul (ICN), Bangkok (BKK), Kuala Lumpur (KUL), Melbourne (MEL).
Oman Air helps 97,000 passengers ‘get home’
Muscat International Airport in Oman’s capital city has been a key transit point providing relief flights for passengers who were unable to take off from the UAE due to ongoing regional airspace closures.
Over the past week Oman Air has operated almost 80 extra flights and “helped more than 97,000 passengers get home”, it said in a statement on X.
The airline will continue to “add extra frequencies where operationally possible” and additional bus support services have “also been made available for those crossing the land border from the UAE to Oman to catch onward flights”.
The “vast majority” of its international network, spanning Europe, South-East Asia, and Africa, is “operating as planned”.
However, Oman Air has confirmed that flights to and from Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Baghdad, and Khasab are cancelled from 9-15 March.
Emirates and Etihad also restart limited schedule
Emirates expects to return to full flight capacity in the “coming days”, following the partial re-opening of regional airspace in the UAE. The Dubai-based carrier has been operating a reduced flight schedule while working to restore full network operations.
On Thursday, it carried approximately 30,000 passengers out of Dubai. “The airline anticipates a return to 100% of its network within the coming days, subject to airspace availability and the fulfilment of all operational requirements,” an Emirates statement said on Friday. “Safety, as ever, remains paramount as is our duty of care.”
Passengers with earlier bookings are being accommodated as “priority” and should only proceed to the airport if they have a confirmed booking.
Etihad Airways has also restarted a “limited flight schedule” operating from its hub at Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi. The airline has listed more than 70 destinations that it planned to fly to between 6 and 19 March.
“Guests with previous bookings will be accommodated on these flights as soon as possible,” Etihad said.
Airlines issue updates to Middle East schedules
Air Arabia has started operating a limited number of flights to and from the UAE, subject to operational and regulatory approvals. From 6-22 March, limited flights will be operating between Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah to more than 40 destinations.
Air India and Air India Express will operate their respective scheduled services to and from Jeddah and Muscat on 10 March, with the airspaces over Saudi Arabia and Oman remaining open. The two airlines will together operate a total of 14 flights to and from Jeddah and Air India Express will operate 14 flights to and from Muscat.
On 10 March, Air India will operate one round-trip from Delhi and two round trips from Mumbai to Jeddah, and Air India Express will operate one round-trip each from Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mangaluru, and Kozhikode. Air India Express will also operate its scheduled services to Muscat, including one round-trip each from Delhi, Kannur, Kochi, Mumbai, Thiruvananthapuram and Tiruchirappalli.
Virgin Atlantic’s seasonal Dubai service is now suspended for the remainder of the winter season. The airline’s flights to Riyadh have also now paused for the next two weeks and will “continue to be assessed on an ongoing basis in line with the latest safety guidance”.
Saudia has partially resumed flight operations to and from Dubai, operating outbound services SV596 from Riyadh and SV588 from Jeddah. It is also operating inbound services SV597 to Riyadh and SV589 to Jeddah. Meanwhile, the airline has extended the suspension of flights to and from Amman, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Bahrain until 11:59 pm GMT on 10 March. Flight cancellations to and from Moscow and Peshawar have been extended until 15 March.
British Airways has scheduled further flights from Oman’s capital city Muscat to London Heathrow, departing at 2:30 am local time on 9, 10, 11 and 12 March. The airline said these flights are for “BA customers who are in Oman or the UAE with an existing booking”.
Finnair is also preparing to operate special flights from Muscat to Helsinki in order to transport around 1,200 customers currently in Dubai. The first flight is scheduled for Tuesday 10 March, with more flights planned for later in the week.
Gulf Air flight operations remain temporarily suspended. The airline will resume services once the Bahrain Civil Aviation Affairs confirms the safe reopening of the affected airspace.
Low-cost carrier Wizz Air has suspended all flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman up to and including Sunday 15 March.
Turkish Airlines has cancelled flights to and from Bahrain, Dammam and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria and the UAE.
Air France is “monitoring the evolving situation in the region in real-time”, but due to the closure of certain airspaces it has been forced to extend the suspension of its flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until 10 March inclusive and to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut until 11 March.
Dutch airline KLM is currently not flying through the airspace of Iran, Iraq and Israel, nor over several countries in the Gulf region. Flights to, from, or via destinations in the region are cancelled or adjusted. KLM’s Tel Aviv flights are suspended for the remainder of its winter season operations, while flights to and from Dammam, Dubai, and Riyadh are suspended up to and including Tuesday 10 March.
Lufthansa Group airlines – which includes Lufthansa, SWISS International Air Lines, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Eurowings – has suspended flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until and including 10 March; to and from Dammam until 10 March; to and from Amman and Erbil until 15 March; to and from Tel Aviv until 22 March; to and from Beirut until 28 March; and to and from Tehran until 30 April. Flights to and from Larnaca in Cyprus have resumed as of 7 March.
Air Canada has said that all flights to and from Dubai and Tel Aviv are currently suspended and restarting on 23 March.
Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s flag carrier, temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha “until further notice”, the company said in a statement.
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