Airlines resume some Middle East flights but disruption continues

SOME airlines are restoring flights to parts of the Middle East as diplomatic efforts to end the conflict that followed US and Israeli strikes on Iran gather pace, but many carriers have kept suspensions in place that continue to disrupt global travel.

Below is an update on the status of airlines‘ flights, in alphabetical order:

Aegean Airlines

Greece’s largest carrier cancelled its flights to Dubai until Aug 31, and to Erbil and Baghdad until Sep 30.

airBaltic

Latvia’s airBaltic resumed operations to Tel Aviv on Jul 1. Flights to Dubai are cancelled until Oct 24.

Air Canada

The Canadian carrier has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai until Oct 24.

Air Europa

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The Spanish airline resumed flights to Tel Aviv on Jun 29.

Air France-KLM

Air France has suspended its Tel Aviv flights until Jul 2, to Dubai until Jul 5 and to Beirut until Jul 9.

KLM suspended flights to Riyadh, Dammam and Dubai until Aug 23.

Cathay Pacific

The Hong Kong airline plans to resume daily passenger flights to Dubai and four-time weekly passenger flights to Riyadh starting Sep 1.

Its cargo arm, Cathay Cargo, will resume freighter services to Riyadh from Aug 1.

Services to these destinations were earlier suspended until Aug 31.

Delta

The US carrier has suspended services for the Atlanta-Tel Aviv route through Dec 18. It plans to resume New York-JFK to Tel Aviv flights on Sep 6, while the launch of its Boston-Tel Aviv route, planned for late October, has been delayed until further notice.

Finnair

The Finnish carrier has cancelled its Doha flights until Oct 2, while continuing to avoid the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel. It will restart Dubai flights, which it operates only in the winter season, in October.

IAG

IAG-owned British Airways delayed the resumption of its flights to Doha until Aug 1 and to Riyadh until Aug 8.

Flights to Dubai, Tel Aviv, Bahrain and Amman are paused until the end of the summer season and are scheduled to resume on Oct 25. It plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha, Riyadh and Tel Aviv to one daily flight when they resume, while dropping Jeddah as a destination.

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines has suspended scheduled Tokyo-Doha flights until Aug 31 and Doha-Tokyo flights until Sep 1.

LOT

The Polish airline has cancelled flights to Riyadh until Jun 30 and plans to resume operations on Jul 2. LOT plans to operate its winter route to Dubai from October and to resume operations to Beirut in its Summer 2027 schedule.

Lufthansa Group

Lufthansa and ITA Airways resumed flights to Tel Aviv on Jul 1. SWISS postponed the resumption of flights until August and Brussels Airlines suspended operations until Oct 24.

Lufthansa and SWISS will continue their suspension of Dubai flights until Sep 13.

Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines and Brussels Airlines suspended flights to Abu Dhabi, Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Teheran until Oct 24.

Low-cost carrier Eurowings resumed operations to Beirut and Erbil on Jul 1 and plans to resume flights to Tel Aviv on Jul 10. The airline expects to resume the remaining Middle East destinations in autumn.

ITA Airways has also extended the suspension of its flights to Riyadh until Jul 31 and to Dubai until Oct 24 for operational reasons.

Malaysia Airlines

The Malaysian carrier will resume daily flights to Doha from Jul 2. The second daily service will remain suspended.

Norwegian Air

The low-cost airline has pushed back planned launches of its Tel Aviv and Beirut services indefinitely, and no new start dates have been decided.

Royal Air Maroc

The Moroccan carrier said flights to Doha were cancelled until Jun 30 and plans to resume operations on Jul 2.

Singapore Airlines

The carrier extended its Singapore-Dubai flight suspension until Aug 2, while adding services on the Singapore-London Gatwick and Singapore-Melbourne routes from late March until Oct 24 to meet higher demand.

Turkish Airlines

SunExpress, Turkish Airlines‘ joint venture with Lufthansa, has cancelled flights to Dubai until Jun 30 and to Bahrain, Beirut and Erbil until Jul 14.

Wizz Air

The low-cost airline suspended flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman from mainland European destinations until mid-September. REUTERS