Sites across the Middle East continue to come under attack as Iran continues to retaliate for the February 28 U.S.-Israeli strike that ousted Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rescue flights have been taking off from cities including Muscat and Oman over the last week, but widespread airspace closures and strikes targeting airports in the region have complicated attempts to restart air services.
According to CBS News, in the early morning of March 11, Dubai Airport (DUB) suffered two drone attacks, injuring four people, and Abu Dhabi Zayed International Airport (AUH) also suffered similar attacks.
Most major international airlines, including Lufthansa, KLM, Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and United Airlines, have temporarily canceled flights to the Middle East, a period that will grow as the conflict deepens and spreads beyond the initial attacks.
British Airways now says its flights to cities including Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv will not resume “until later this month” amid widespread uncertainty about aviation safety. Meanwhile, flights between London Heathrow (LHR) and Abu Dhabi will not restart “until later this year”.
After operating daily relief flights from Oman’s capital Muscat to London since March 5, British Airways also said it would temporarily suspend these flights “due to reduced demand” as most travelers who wanted to evacuate have now returned home.
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“For customers with existing bookings, there are limited seats remaining on our repatriation flights from Oman (Muscat) to London Heathrow on 11 and 12 March,” the airline said, adding that it would “continuously review the situation” to determine whether more evacuation flights are required in the future.
Airlines that have committed to restarting some commercial routes in March include Delta Air Lines (operating between JFK and Tel Aviv) and Air France (operating from Paris to Riyadh and Beirut).
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines also issued an update, saying flights from Amsterdam to Riyadh and Dammam will not resume until March 12 at the earliest, while flights to Dubai will remain canceled throughout the month.
“Due to the ongoing unrest in the Middle East, KLM has decided to cancel all flights to Dubai up to and including March 28,” the airline said in a statement.
“We understand this decision has a significant impact on our travelers and are doing everything possible to keep them fully informed.”