Travellers passing through the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, 27 September 2026, woke up to a wave of schedule changes across the country’s three busiest gateways—Dubai International, Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International and Sharjah International. A rolling update published by Gulf News at 08:18 detailed 46 delays and a string of cancellations affecting Emirates, Etihad, flydubai and Air Arabia, as well as several foreign carriers. While operational snags and weather routinely cause timetable slips, aviation analysts say regional security tensions and evolving health protocols have made UAE flight planning unusually fluid this quarter. In a welcome move for African business travellers, the UAE formally lifted Ebola-related entry and visa restrictions on passengers from Uganda after the World Health Organization declared the country Ebola-free. Restrictions on travellers from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan, however, remain in force, underscoring the patch-work nature of current health-security rules. Concurrently, the General Civil Aviation Authority confirmed that all flights operated by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE are suspended until further notice, aligning with wider Gulf measures tied to US sanctions on Tehran-linked carriers. The knock-on effects were evident at Dubai International (DXB), where long-haul departures to Colombo and Washington ran hours behind schedule, and regional connectors such as flydubai’s services to Baku, Moscow and Kazan were either delayed or cancelled. Abu Dhabi faced its own setbacks, with Etihad’s EY858 from Sochi delayed nearly 19 hours following the closure of the Russian airport. Budget carrier Air Arabia listed cancellations on its Kuwait and Bahrain rotations from both Abu Dhabi and Sharjah. Corporate travel managers are advising clients to reconfirm itineraries up to the last minute and arrive at least three hours early. “We’re seeing a perfect storm of political risk, health-security revisions and operational bottlenecks,” said Nikhil Menon, regional head of a Fortune 500 travel management company in Dubai. “For multinational companies moving staff in and out of the Gulf, real-time tracking tools and flexible ticket policies are now mission-critical.” Looking ahead, a raft of European and North American airlines—including Air Canada, KLM and Lufthansa—have pencilled in staggered resumptions for UAE services from early October through November, but all dates are “subject to security conditions.” Until the regional outlook stabilises, business travellers should expect rolling adjustments and keep contingency plans—such as remote work or alternate routings—ready at hand.
Source: Gulf News
