March, 3, 2026
Independent - British travellers stranded in the Gulf by escalating conflict have begun taking off on limited flights to the UK.
Airspace closures across the Middle East followed strikes between the US, Israel and Iran this weekend, shutting several busy aviation hubs in the region.
Although Dubai airport is not fully open, a small number of flights resumed yesterday evening.
An Emirates flight from Dubai International airport (DXB) is expected to land in Manchester this afternoon.
Other Emirates flights to London Heathrow, Gatwick, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Paris and Bengaluru took off on Tuesday morning, per FlightRadar24.
DXB said in a passenger advisory on Monday: “Limited airport operations have resumed today (March 2) with a small number of flights operating from DXB and DWC.
“Passengers must not travel to the airport unless they have received a confirmed departure time directly from their airline, as schedules remain subject to change. If you have received a confirmed departure flight from your airline, please also check which Terminal your flight is departing from.”
UAE airspace has partially reopened under restricted corridors since closing on Saturday.
Emirates, the UAE flag carrier, also said it would operate “a limited number of flights” from Monday evening.
The airline said: “We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority and those who have been rebooked to travel on these limited flights will be contacted directly by Emirates.”
Zayed International airport advised passengers not to travel to the airport unless they have been “explicitly advised by their airline to do so”.
Access to the airport in Abu Dhabi will be restricted to confirmed travellers only.
According to Cirium, the aviation analytics firm, 78.13 per cent of flights from the UK to the UAE remain cancelled on Tuesday.
Etihad added that all scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until 2pm local time on Thursday, 5 March.
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