(Posted 28th February 2026)
Following the resumption of war in the Middle East, with the US and Israel pitched against the terror regime in Tehran, have airlines started to advise their customers of wide scale interruptions of services to and from such places like Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Oman.
Flights enroute to their home bases by Etihad, Emirates and FlyDubai are presently being diverted or halted at their departure airports and departures from Dubai’s two international airports DXB and DWC, the international airport in Abu Dhabi and other airports like Sharjah are presently all on halt due to the airspace closures and clear and present dangers to any and all civilian aircraft flying through the war zone.
Overflights are also affected, with flights from East Asia and the Pacific region having to divert around the war zone and flights from Europe and beyond to East Asia and the Pacific region too have to fly wide diversions, in part due to their inability to use Russian airspace as a result of ongoing sanctions and Russian countermeasures.
From the East African region was Kenya Airways the first airline to inform passengers of the suspension of flights to and from the UAE and no doubt will Uganda Airlines, Air Tanzania and RwandAir follow suit.
Besides passenger services are cargo flights also affected, which means exports of perishable goods and import of mail, spare parts and other goods will face a period of having no flights at all, a challenge for both exporters and importers on both sides.
ATCNews will update readers as and when NOTAM’s become available or when the situation will allow flights to resume, something not anticipated however for the next few days.
ATCNews extends wishes for safety to readers in the affected countries while hostilities last.
