A passenger Mohd Umardaraz from Bijnor Uttar Pradesh was stranded at Terminal-3 of the Delhi airport after his flight to Kuwait was canceled due to airspace restrictions over Iran and parts of the Middle East on March 1, 2026 in New Delhi, India.
Arvind Yadav | Hindustan Times | fake images
Dubai-based Emirates airline got the green light from local authorities to resume a “limited number” of flights on Monday night, in a sign of how airlines are preparing to restart service to the region after thousands of flight cancellations.
Separately, Israeli airline El Al said Monday that it is considering chartering private planes to bring home stranded Israeli citizens.
The announcements mark a potential improvement after air travel ground to a halt across a large swath of the Middle East over the weekend following the US and Israeli strikes on Iran and subsequent retaliatory strikes.
The attacks closed airspace across much of the region, stranding hundreds of thousands of customers around the world and causing thousands of flights to be cancelled, including those not flying to and from the area as planes could not transit through those areas. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is one of the busiest air transport hubs in the world.
The airport authority that owns and manages airports in Dubai said a small number of flights would be allowed to operate from Dubai International and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International, but advised travelers to check with their airlines.
For its part, Emirates said it will begin operating a “limited number of flights” on Monday night and urged customers not to come to the airport unless notified by the airline.
“We are serving customers with earlier bookings as a priority,” it said in a post on X. “All other flights remain suspended until further notice,” it said.
El Al said it is considering operating flights on KlasJet aircraft from European airports to Taba, Egypt, near the southern tip of Israel, or Aqaba, over the border with Jordan, for the airline’s customers, but that the plan is subject to government approval.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said on Monday that all commercial flights to and from the city are suspended until Wednesday afternoon local time, although it may operate some cargo and repatriation flights “subject to strict operational and safety protocols.”
