British Airways cancels flights to Dubai and other Middle East hubs until June

British Airways (BA) has paused the majority of its flights to parts of the Middle East until at least June as Iranian strikes on the Gulf region continue.

All flights to Amman, Bahrain, Dubai, and Tel Aviv are temporarily cancelled until May 31, while flights to Doha are suspended until April 30, and will resume with a limited schedule planned until June. Abu Dhabi flights remain cancelled until October.

The airline industry is facing its most challenging time since the Covid pandemic after Israel and the US launched attacks on Iran, with Tehran retaliating with strikes on its Gulf neighbours and Israel that shut down airspace in the region.

While airspace has reopened, the situation is uncertain, with Iran continuing to strike key infrastructure sites of US allies across the Middle East. UAE airspace was shut overnight due to a drone attack on a fuel storage tank, causing fresh flight disruption.

A drone attack temporarily closed Dubai airport on Monday. Firefighters battled the flames for several hours, forcing the world’s busiest international airport to suspend flights.

BA’s services to Riyadh and Jeddah are continuing to operate as planned and customers booked onto any of these routes can change their flights until May 31.

The UK Foreign Office is warning British citizens against all but essential travel to Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a statement, British Airways said: “Due to the continuing uncertainty of the situation in the Middle East and airspace instability, and to provide more clarity to our customers, we’ve extended the temporary reduction in our flying schedule in the region.

“We’re keeping the situation under constant review and are directly in touch with affected customers to offer them a range of options.

“Since the situation in the Middle East began, we’ve helped thousands of customers return home and operated eight relief flights from Muscat in Oman. We are also operating additional flights to and from Singapore (x4) and Bangkok (x3), and continue to review options to bring back more customers who have been disrupted.”