Global air travel faces severe disruption, with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East continuing to impede access to key hubs like Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi.
British Airways is making permanent changes to its network, announcing the cancellation of all flights from London Heathrow to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from 24 April. Having suspended most Middle East services shortly after the conflict began, British Airways will resume flights to Dubai, Doha, and Tel Aviv in the second half of the year, though at a much-reduced scale.
While airspace in the region is starting to reopen, with Bahrain’s Gulf Air set to resume London flights, BA’s decision marks a strategic pivot away from the Middle East.
Adding to the strain, jet fuel prices have soared since the conflict’s onset, intensifying pressure on carriers already rerouting to bypass the volatile region.
Below is the latest on which airlines have cancelled flights to the region, in alphabetical order:
Aegean Airlines
Greece’s largest carrier cancelled flights to Riyadh and Amman until June 27 and to Tel Aviv and Beirut until June 26. It cancelled flights to Erbil and Baghdad until July 2 and to Dubai until June 29.
airBaltic
Latvia’s airBaltic says all flights to Tel Aviv have been cancelled until May 31. All flights to Dubai are cancelled until October 24.
Air Canada
The Canadian carrier has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai until September 7.
Air Europa
The Spanish airline has cancelled all flights to Tel Aviv until May 3.
Air France
Air France has suspended its Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh flights until May 3.
British Airways
IAG-owned British Airways is reducing flights to the Middle East when services resume, permanently dropping Jeddah as a destination, while adding capacity to India and Africa.
It plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to one daily flight from July 1, and to cut Riyadh services from two daily flights to one from mid-May. Changes apply through the summer season that ends on October 24, with one Dubai service restarting on October 16.
Cathay Pacific
The Hong Kong airline has cancelled all passenger flights to Dubai and Riyadh until June 30. To cater for a surge in demand to Europe, it will operate extra passenger flights to London, Paris and Zurich in April.
Delta
The U.S. carrier has cancelled its New York-Tel Aviv flights and delayed the restart of its Atlanta-Tel Aviv route until September 5. It said the launch of its Boston-Tel Aviv route, planned for late October, has been delayed until further notice.
EL AL Israel Airlines
The Israeli carrier said customers who planned to depart Israel through April 18 had their flights cancelled, including relevant return flights. It will increase the number of destinations to about 30 from April 13 and will gradually expand that number through the rest of the month.
Emirates
The UAE carrier has said it is operating a commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and around 80 destinations.
Ethiad Airways
The UAE carrier said it had resumed a limited commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and around 80 destinations.
Finnair
The Finnish carrier has cancelled its Doha flights until July 2, while continuing to avoid the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel. The airline only restarts its Dubai flights in October.
Flynas
The Saudi budget airline has suspended flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Doha, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq and Syria until April 15.
Iberia Express
IAG’s low-cost airline, Iberia Express, has cancelled all flights to and from Tel Aviv through May 31.
Indigo
The Indian airline suspended operations to Doha, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dammam, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah until March 28.
ITA Airways
ITA Airways has suspended flights to Tel Aviv until April 2 and extended Dubai cancellations until March 29, continuing to avoid the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel.
Japan Airlines
Japan Airlines has suspended scheduled Tokyo-Doha flights until May 10 and Doha-Tokyo flights until May 11. The airline also announced extra flights between Tokyo and London on April 25.
KLM
KLM has suspended flights to Tel Aviv, Riyadh, Dammam and Dubai until May 17.
LOT
The Polish airline has suspended all its flights to Tel Aviv until May 31. It has also cancelled flights to Riyadh until June 30 and to Beirut from March 31 to May 30.
The airline plans to operate its winter route to Dubai in October.
Lufthansa Group
Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Edelweiss suspended flights to Dubai and Tel Aviv until May 31, and to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Tehran until October 24.
Lufthansa Cargo is the same, except for the Tel Aviv suspension, which will last through April 30.
Low-cost carrier Eurowings plans to suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Erbil through April 30 and to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman through October 24.
Malaysia Airlines
The Malaysian carrier has suspended all flights to Doha until June 14.
Norwegian Air
The low-cost airline has pushed back planned launches of its Tel Aviv and Beirut services to June 15.
Pegasus
Turkey’s Pegasus Airlines cancelled its Iran, Iraq, Amman, Beirut, Kuwait, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah flights until May 1.
Qantas
Australia’s flag carrier is adding flights to Rome and Paris to meet an upswing in demand for European routes.
Flights to Paris will increase to five return flights per week from three and the Perth-Singapore service will increase from daily to 10 flights per week.
An updated schedule will come into effect progressively for flights from mid-April and run until late July.
Qatar Airways
The carrier said it is gradually increasing flights from Doha to more than 120 destinations by mid-May.
Royal Air Maroc
The Moroccan carrier says flights to Doha are cancelled until June 30 and those to Dubai until May 31.
Singapore Airlines
The carrier extended its Singapore-Dubai flights suspension until May 31, while adding services on the Singapore-London Gatwick and Singapore-Melbourne routes from late March until October 24 to meet higher demand.
Turkish Airlines
SunExpress, Turkish Airlines’ joint venture with Lufthansa, has cancelled flights to Dubai until April 30.
Wizz Air
The low-cost airline suspended flights to Israel until April 13, and to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman from mainland European destinations until mid-September. All flights to Medina have been suspended indefinitely.