Gulf News’ 23 October flight-status round-up paints a two-track recovery for UAE aviation. While security advisories and airline cancellations continue to hit GCC routes, especially to Saudi Arabia, several European flag carriers are slotting back into Dubai International’s winter timetable. Lufthansa will restart Munich and Frankfurt services on 25–26 October, with SWISS following to Zurich on 27 October and Eurowings to Berlin, Stuttgart and Cologne on 1 November. Philippine Airlines, meanwhile, has quietly resumed four weekly Manila–Dubai flights, restoring capacity for the UAE’s large Filipino expatriate community. At the same time, schedule boards at DXB and Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International show dozens of same-day cancellations or long delays on routes to Riyadh, Tel Aviv and Damascus, and Iranian carriers remain grounded. Etihad’s Saudi suspensions now run to 5 November and flydubai’s to 29 October. The bulletin reminds travellers that not all disruptions are conflict-related; technical issues, weather and crew-rostering bottlenecks are also in play. Nevertheless, corporate travel managers are being urged to maintain real-time monitoring of security NOTAMs and to brief travellers on possible last-minute rerouting. Air-cargo operators welcome the imminent return of European belly-hold capacity but warn that the Saudi gap continues to distort regional freight flows, pushing time-critical shipments onto expensive charter options.
Source: Gulf News
