The UAE has managed to keep aircraft flying in and out of its airports, seemingly against all odds.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi international airports were both struck when Iran's attacks began on February 28. Iran has launched strikes on the airports several times since, while firing more than 2,000 missiles and drones at the country. About 93 per cent have been intercepted.
But as airports in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have shut down or been disrupted, the UAE has largely managed to keep flights running. How?
Airlines in Abu Dhabi and Dubai use "corridors" approved by the aviation regulator to allow planes to take off when threats are low. Planes flying west to Europe typically head south, away from Iran, as soon as they take off, then head west over Saudi Arabia, Flightradar24 shows.
Airspace to the east, over Oman, has been the subject of fewer missile threats and Muscat airport has been open throughout much of the war. Planes arriving in Dubai are often placed in a holding pattern over the sultanate when there is a missile threat.
“We’ve closed airspace, we’ve opened it as the threat level has changed," Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, told CNN on Tuesday. "We’ve been able to keep aircraft in the air and obviously to route through corridors that are properly designated by GCAA [UAE General Civil Aviation Authority] and holding aircraft at outstation [non-hub airports] so they can be safely diverted if there is a threat."
The authority has said that, between March 1 and 12, more than 1.4 million passengers passed through the country’s airports. The organisation said the country’s national carriers have overall been operating at 44.6 per cent of normal levels.
“It’s testament to the close working and I’m sure operational arrangements across the UAE defence and transport ecosystem,” said Mark Pilling, managing editor of Arabian Aerospace, part of the Aviation Week Network.
Flightradar24 indicates that last weekend, Emirates airline and Air Arabia were each operating at above 60 per cent normal capacity, flydubai was above 35 per cent and Etihad Airways was at about 30 per cent. Figures have since fallen as a result of temporary airspace closures.
In the past week or so, Qatar Airways has been operating at about 10 per cent of normal capacity from Doha. With Bahraini airspace closed, Gulf Air has not been flying from its home base, although it has operated some services from Riyadh and Dammam in Saudi Arabia. Kuwaiti airspace remains closed, but flights to and from Muscat have continued throughout the conflict.
In contrast to several Gulf airlines, some European carriers have scrapped flights to the region for the coming weeks and months. These airlines – whose home governments have typically advised against travel to Gulf countries – can send aircraft and staff to routes serving other regions of the world, an option unavailable to Gulf-based carriers, which are dependent on their local hubs.
Mr Griffiths suggested that difficulty in securing insurance was preventing some foreign carriers from running flights to and from the UAE. “If foreign governments would underwrite – which surely for them should be a relatively easy thing to do – the operations of their airlines to the UAE, then obviously we’ll do everything we can to facilitate those,” he said. “That’s the attitude of a lot of airlines coming in, that they are getting that support from governments to underwrite their insurance policies.”
Yvonne Ziegler, professor of business administration at Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, said it was clear the UAE could not keep hundreds of thousands of tourists in the country after Iran attacked. “I’m sure the airlines have a reputation that can be easily lost if they [cannot carry] their customers that are stranded in their countries and worldwide," she said.
John Strickland, a former airline executive, said safety and security was the main priority. “You’re talking about airlines with incredibly experienced management who’ve been through many crises and security challenges,” he said. “With the fundamental caveat that safety and security can be assured, they will operate what they need to do to repatriate the enormous numbers of people stuck.”
Flightradar24 maps show services from Gulf states avoiding any area north after take-off, with incoming services tending to approach from the south. Services are avoiding Iranian or Iraqi airspace, with flights instead using corridors to the north and south. Corridors that are open have "limited capacity", Mr Griffiths said.
'Security corridors'
“There is no formal aviation system called ‘security corridors’,” said Connor Hunter, director of operations and business development at Securewest International, a global risk management specialist in the UK. “In practice, what people are describing are standard air traffic service routes that are being used, prioritised or adjusted in response to the security environment.”
He said that in the Middle East, including within and near UAE airspace, these routes sit within normal “flight information region” structures, which are physical three-dimensional areas within which flight information, including alerts is provided to aircraft.
These can, he said, be refined through what are called Notice to Air Missions, or Notams, which are urgent alerts highlighting hazards, along with restrictions and other measures.
“The purpose is straightforward: to keep aircraft within predictable, tightly managed pathways and away from more sensitive or higher-risk areas where possible,” he said. “These routes are not physically patrolled by fighter jets. They are protected through surveillance, air traffic control, routing discipline and close civil-military co-ordination. In this context, predictability and visibility are the real security measures.”
Dubai airport is a “banked hub”, meaning that many flights arrive simultaneously so passengers can connect with one of a string of subsequent departures, which are also concentrated into certain time windows. Mr Hunter said that system appeared to have been retained.
“What does appear to have changed is the level of control around those waves,” he said. “In a heightened threat environment, authorities and airlines are managing traffic more tightly through airspace restrictions, rerouting and controlled operating windows. In practical terms, the pattern remains recognisable, but with less flexibility and more security-driven oversight.”
Passenger or cargo aircraft have previously been shot down or damaged in or around conflict zones in other countries, although those suspected of being responsible often do not admit their role. An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 that crashed in December 2024, killing more than half of the 67 people on board, was suspected of having been shot down by the Russian military, AP reported at the time.
Following repeated denials, Iran eventually admitted it shot down a Ukrainian International Airlines Boeing 737-800 in January 2020, killing all 176 on board. After launching attacks on two military bases in Iraq where American troops were stationed, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps mistook the jet for a retaliatory missile.
Although safety is the key consideration when determining whether flights operate during crises, the financial costs of shutdowns are high. “If the airliners are sat on the ground, crew are sat at home, you’re having to pay for the scheduled maintenance, you’re still having to pay for the staff, if you’re cancelling tickets you’re having to refund that – the commercial imperative [to keep flying] is really obvious,” said Guy Gratton, professor of aircraft test and evaluation at Cranfield University in the UK.
“The boards of all these companies are going to be spending a lot of their time looking at balance sheets or risk assessments and looking at anything suggests that particular routes can be flown safely. It’s so important for them to keep flying if they’re not to haemorrhage money.”
Mr Hunter said he thought it was probable that the conflict could continue for several weeks and remain “materially disruptive” up to three months, even if the most intense phase of fighting was shorter.
