Some flights from the Middle East resumed in the wake of the strikes on Iran — but the process hasn’t been without confusion.
Twelve Etihad Airways flights departed Abu Dhabi as of about 5 p.m. local time on Monday, even as the airline said operations remain suspended. Emirates in neighboring Dubai also announced it would operate a “limited number of flights.”
However, more apparent missile threats in the area forced two Etihad cargo flights headed to Abu Dhabi to divert to Muscat, Oman, early Tuesday morning local time, according to Flightradar24 data.
An Emirates A380 passenger jet from Mumbai was holding off the coast and eventually turned around, but it ended up doing a double U-turn and landed in Dubai at about 3:00 a.m. local time.
Reported attacks on the US embassy in Riyadh have sparked disruptions at an airport that had largely been running flights as normal. Flightradar24 shows at least six flights holding or turning back.
Flightradar24
The US State Department has urged Americans to evacuate over a dozen countries in the Middle East, including the UAE and Saudi Arabia, via commercial means — but it’s unclear how easy that will be amid the latest attacks and closed airports and airspace.
The developments come after the UAE partially reopened its airspace for certain flights, giving travelers hope they’d finally be able to escape after days of waiting. Some did get out.
The first flight carrying passengers to leave the UAE since the attacks, an Etihad Airbus A380 headed for London Heathrow, took off at 2:39 p.m. local time.
It was soon followed by 11 wide-body jets bound for cities in Europe, Asia, and Africa. They were:
- Flight 41 to Amsterdam
- Flight 33 to Paris
- Flight 843 to Moscow
- Flight 294 to Karachi, Pakistan
- Flight 204 to Mumbai
- Flight 300 to Islamabad, Pakistan
- Flight 216 to New Delhi
- Flight 555 to Riyadh
- Flight 611 to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Flight 571 to Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Flight 713 to Cairo
About an hour earlier, Etihad Airways had said in an X post that “all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended” until Tuesday afternoon.
Meanwhile, a notice on the airport’s website told passengers to check directly with their airline before heading there, “due to the temporary closure of UAE airspace.”
However, the site also showed several flights available for check-in.
In a statement shared with Business Insider following the departures, Etihad said that flights returning people to their home countries — or delivering cargo or repositioning the airplane — could operate “subject to strict operational and safety approvals.”
A flight from Islamabad to Abu Dhabi landed around 11:00 p.m. Monday. Another from Riyadh landed shortly after.
“All scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain cancelled,” Etihad said.
Interest in the flights was high among aviation enthusiasts, with over 100,000 people tracking both the first Etihad and Emirates flights out of the UAE on Flightradar24.
Other airlines are similarly revving back up.
At 9:12 p.m. local time, the same Emirates Airbus A380 that landed from Mumbai took off from Dubai heading for the Indian city. Around 15 minutes later, another departed for Chennai. Further Emirates flights to Hyderabad and Bengaluru in India departed Dubai on Monday night.
Other carriers, including Saudia, AirSial, Fly Jinnah, and Flynas, used the UAE’s airspace to fly between cities in Saudi Arabia and India on Monday night.
Meanwhile, IndiGo, Royal Jordanian, Flydubai, and Air India planes took off from Dubai around the same time. Though all of the destinations were blank on Flightradar24.
It’s unclear whether these flights carried passengers or were specially approved. The airlines didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images
On Sunday, a Nepali national was killed, and seven people were injured by debris after an Iranian drone targeting Abu Dhabi airport was intercepted, officials said.
Abu Dhabi International Airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
All flights from Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait remained suspended on Monday.
A Lufthansa Airbus A380 also took off from Abu Dhabi earlier on Monday, bound for Munich. The enormous airplane can carry over 500 passengers, but an airline spokesperson told Business Insider that there were only two pilots on board.
That’s because the jet arrived in Abu Dhabi for maintenance three months ago, which has now been completed.
The spokesperson said Lufthansa reviewed the possibility of flying passengers, but it would require at least 17 flight attendants who can’t be flown in “due to the current massive restrictions on air traffic in the United Arab Emirates.”
They added that airport accessibility for any potential passengers is “unclear and difficult to organize.”
“Reliable planning of check-in, security checks, and boarding cannot be guaranteed under these circumstances.”
