Airlines operating to and from the United Arab Emirates spent Tuesday, 21 July, rewriting schedules yet again after overnight security developments in the wider Gulf forced a new wave of cancellations. Gulf News reports that Air France has extended its suspension of Dubai services until at least 27 July and that code-share partner KLM, together with British Airways, Lufthansa Group, Singapore Airlines and several low-cost Asian carriers, have all pushed back their Dubai restart dates to late-October. Etihad Airways has cancelled its Abu Dhabi-Kuwait rotation (EY 653/654) through 24 July, while Emirates axed four daily Dubai–Kuwait turns and flydubai scrubbed multiple Bahrain flights. Abu Dhabi-based Air Arabia also pulled Sharjah-Kuwait and Abu Dhabi-Kuwait flights. Executives say the immediate trigger is a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin from the EU Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) advising carriers to avoid Bahraini, Kuwaiti and UAE airspace until at least 29 July. Reroutings have lengthened some Asia–Europe journeys by up to three hours and pushed operating costs sharply higher. Etihad has warned passengers to expect “dynamic schedule changes” and asked travellers to keep contact details updated so that last-minute re-accommodation messages are received. Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths stressed that DXB remains at “pretty much full capacity”, processing more than six million passengers since the US-Iran cease-fire collapsed last month. Industry sources, however, say insurance premiums for over-flights have tripled in a fortnight and that many European carriers cannot obtain hull-war cover for Gulf routings. For corporate mobility managers, the impact is immediate: higher fares, longer transit times and mounting uncertainty in relocating staff across the Middle East. Companies with time-sensitive assignee moves are being advised to build extra lay-over buffers, monitor employee itineraries in real time and review force-majeure clauses in travel insurance policies.
Source: Gulf News
