Airports across the UAE, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, faced a wave of delays and cancellations starting Saturday, September 26, after the country suspended all Iranian airline operations from September 24 amid escalating regional tensions.
Among the cancelled services were Iran Airtour's Dubai-Tehran route, Emirates' Dubai-Amman flight, Pakistan International Airlines' Abu Dhabi-Islamabad service, and flydubai's FZ815 flight to Abha. Several Air Arabia flights to Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia were also disrupted.
More than 20 additional flights were delayed by between one and over sixteen hours, affecting routes to Bangkok, Moscow, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kathmandu and Kabul. Carriers affected include Emirates, Etihad Airways, flydubai, Air Arabia, SpiceJet, Aeroflot and Pakistan International Airlines.
Meanwhile, several international carriers — among them Air France, Singapore Airlines, KLM, SWISS, Lufthansa and British Airways — have suspended or scaled back their Dubai services through October and November 2026 as airlines reassess routing amid the volatile security situation in the region.
Airport authorities are urging travellers to check their flight status before heading to the airport and to allow extra time, particularly those with connecting flights through Dubai, since cascading delays could disrupt onward journeys.
The disruptions are the latest fallout for Gulf aviation from weeks of heightened regional tensions, which have repeatedly forced airlines to halt or reroute flights over the region's airspace. Industry watchers say the situation remains fluid, with airlines updating schedules daily as they monitor developments before restoring normal Iran-bound and transit operations.