International airlines continue to recalibrate their Middle-East networks in response to conflict-zone air-space restrictions that have reshaped routings over Iran and the Gulf. On 12 November Lufthansa confirmed that all of its brands – Lufthansa, Swiss and Eurowings – will keep passenger and cargo flights to Dubai suspended until at least 27 March 2027. The German group cited the extra flying time and fuel burn created by the current no-fly corridor over Iran, Iraq and large parts of the Gulf as making A321-family services commercially unviable. Affected customers are being offered free re-booking or refunds. The retreat contrasts with British Airways, which quietly resumed daily London-Heathrow–Dubai services on 3 November after an eight-month hiatus. BA is, however, keeping Abu Dhabi off its map and has extended suspensions on Jeddah, Riyadh and Bahrain until 2027, underscoring the patchwork of market-by-market risk assessments airlines are making. Other European carriers are taking similarly cautious positions: KLM, Air France and ITA Airways all list Dubai suspensions that now stretch well into the first quarter, while Wizz Air and Air Baltic have cancelled their entire winter schedules to the UAE. For multinational companies moving staff and equipment through Dubai, the shake-out means fewer capacity options this winter and a premium on the seats that remain. Freight forwarders moving high-value or time-critical cargo also face longer transit times and higher surcharges as carriers route around restricted airspace. Travel managers are being advised to build in additional stop-over buffers, check aircraft substitutions that may change baggage allowances, and remind travellers that re-routing can invalidate onward visa or testing requirements booked on the original itinerary. Dubai’s own headline carrier Emirates continues to operate its global network, but executives concede that circuitous routings via the Arabian Sea and Arabian Peninsula are cutting into operational margins. The airline is co-ordinating closely with the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) and Eurocontrol over daily air-space notices, but warns that sudden closures could still force last-minute diversions. Business travellers are urged to use airline apps and allow generous connection windows at DXB. The longer-term question is whether a prolonged regional conflict will accelerate the up-gauging of flights to wide-body equipment better able to absorb detours, or whether some secondary city pairs will simply disappear. Until airspace normalises, corporates with large Middle-East footprints should prepare for a volatile capacity picture and lock-in contingency allocations with multiple carriers.
Source: The National
