UAE resumes limited flights amid travel chaos across Middle East

Dubai’s airport authority says it authorised a limited number of flights as hundreds of thousands remain stranded.Published On 3 Mar 2026The Emirates" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="413" data-entity-type="location">United Arab Emirates has resumed a limited number of flights amid ongoing travel chaos across the region, prompted by the joint war by the United States and Israel on Iran.Dubai’s airport authority said on Monday that it had authorised a “small number” of flights to operate from Dubai-international-airport" class="entity-link entity-location" data-entity-id="38097" data-entity-type="location">Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest gateway for international passengers, and Dubai World Central airport.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemslist 1 of 4UN chief calls for ‘way out’ of Iran warlist 2 of 4Melania Trump chairs UN meeting on children days after Iran school strikelist 3 of 4Golestan Palace majorly damaged in US-Israeli strikes on Tehranlist 4 of 4How much could the Iran-war" class="entity-link entity-event" data-entity-id="38748" data-entity-type="event">Iran war cost the US? Here’s what we knowend of listThe authority said that passengers should not make travel plans unless they had been contacted directly by their airline with a confirmed departure time.Dubai-based Emirates announced the resumption of a “limited” number of flights on Monday evening, and said that customers with earlier bookings would take priority.Etihad Airways, based in Abu Dhabi, said that commercial flights would remain suspended until Wednesday, but that some “repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights” could take place subject to operational and safety approvals.At least 16 Etihad Airways flights departed from Abu Dhabi on Monday to destinations including London, Amsterdam, Moscow and Riyadh, according to the flight tracking website Flightradar24.At least two Emirates flights that departed from Dubai landed in India’s Mumbai and Chennai early on Tuesday morning, according to Flightradar24.Later on Tuesday morning, two Etihad flights bound for Abu Dhabi were diverted to Muscat, Oman, and an Emirates flight headed for Dubai turned back towards Mumbai, according to the flight tracker.“An Iran-conflict-driven disruption is typically more geographically concentrated, but it can still be severe, because it affects some of the world’s most important east-west corridors and creates rapid knock-on effects,” Tony Stanton, consultant director of Strategic Air in Australia, told Al Jazeera.