British travellers stranded in the Gulf have begun departing on limited flights to the UK after airspace closures across the Middle East followed strikes between the US, Israel and Iran this weekend.
An Emirates flight from Dubai International Airport (DXB) is expected to land in Manchester on Tuesday afternoon. Other Emirates flights to London Heathrow, Gatwick, Frankfurt, Jeddah, Paris and Bengaluru took off on Tuesday morning, according to FlightRadar24.
DXB said in a passenger advisory on Monday: “Limited airport operations have resumed today (March 2) with a small number of flights operating from DXB and DWC.” Passengers must not travel to the airport unless they have received a confirmed departure time directly from their airline.
UAE airspace has partially reopened under restricted corridors since closing on Saturday. Emirates said it would operate “a limited number of flights” from Monday evening, prioritising customers with earlier bookings.
Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi advised passengers not to travel unless explicitly advised by their airline. Access to the airport will be restricted to confirmed travellers only. According to Cirium, 78.13 per cent of flights from the UK to the UAE remain cancelled on Tuesday.
Etihad added that all scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain suspended until 2pm local time on 5 March, though some repositioning, cargo and repatriation flights may operate with approval.
