Emirates to resume flights to Basra, Baghdad and Tehran from Tuesday

Flydubai extends its suspension of Beirut flights until October 31

A Middle East Airlines plane takes off from Beirut as smoke rises over Dahieh. Reuters

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Services to Iran and Iraq will resume from Tuesday, Emirates airline announced, specifying that flights to and from Beirut remain cancelled until October 15. Passengers travelling through or from Dubai to Basra, Baghdad and Tehran will again be accepted for travel. Meanwhile, flydubai extended its suspension of Beirut flights until the end of the month.

On Monday, airports in Iran resumed operations after grounding all flights briefly on Sunday amid the conflict in the region. Flights from airports across the country resumed six hours before the restrictions were initially scheduled to be lifted on Monday, the state-run news agency Irna reported.

Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation had announced operations would be suspended from 9am local time on Sunday until 6am on Monday. "After ensuring favourable and safe flight conditions by the Civil Aviation Organisation, all announced restrictions are removed and airlines are allowed to carry out flight operations," state media reported.

Iranian authorities announced the move because of "operational restrictions". Notices sent to pilots showed exemptions for “emergency flights, ferry flights and state aircraft”. The measures were imposed days after Iran restricted flights on October 1, after it launched hundreds of missiles at Israel.

Emirates airline told The National that flights to Tehran will restart on Tuesday. "Customers transiting through Dubai with final destinations in Iran will not be accepted for travel," it said.

Flights to Iraq and Iran

Flydubai told The National last week that it was resuming flights to Iraq from October 4. "We are monitoring the situation closely and will amend our flight schedule if required," a flydubai spokesperson said.

Flights to Lebanon

Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport resumed operations on Monday morning after a pause from Sunday until Monday. Most international flights to and from Lebanon are suspended, although the national carrier Middle East Airlines is operating some services.

Flydubai has cancelled flights between Beirut and Dubai until October 31.

Emirates said flights to and from Beirut would be suspended up to and including October 15.

Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways told The National that it cancelled services to and from Beirut up to and including October 11. The affected flights are EY535 and EY538. "Etihad is monitoring the situation across the region and continues to maintain close contact with authorities," a representative for the airline said. Neither airline will accept transiting passengers from Beirut "until further notice".

Meanwhile, flydubai has cancelled flights between Beirut and Dubai until October 31.

Air Arabia said operations to Beirut from Sharjah and Abu Dhabi remain suspended "until further notice".

Other Gulf carriers, including Egyptair, Jordan's flag carrier Royal Jordanian, Iran Air, Iraqi Airways, Qatar Airways and Bahrain's Gulf Air have taken similar steps because of security concerns.

Flights to Israel

Etihad resumed service to Tel Aviv last Thursday. “The airline is closely monitoring the situation and remains in constant communication with relevant authorities and security intelligence providers,” a representative said.

Emirates suspended all flights to and from Tel Aviv in November, 2023. flydubai previously stated its flights to Israel would resume on Friday, October 4.