UAE aviation authority\u2019s announcement is the latest sign of the travel sector\u2019s recovery across the Middle East.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Published On 3 May 2026<\/span>3 May 2026<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The United Arab Emirates has lifted all flight restrictions put in place since the start of the United States and Israel\u2019s war on Iran, the country\u2019s civil aviation authority has announced.<\/p>\n All air operations have returned to \u201cnormal status\u201d in UAE airspace, the General Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n list of 4 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cOur decision came following a comprehensive assessment of operational and security conditions, in coordination with the relevant authorities\u201d, the aviation authority said in a post on X, adding that it would continue monitoring the situation.<\/p>\n The announcement marks a significant milestone for UAE hubs Dubai, home to the world\u2019s busiest airport for international passengers, and Abu Dhabi, which have been operating under restrictions since late February.<\/p>\n The US-Israel war on Iran has caused major disruption to aviation across the Middle East, with Tehran\u2019s retaliatory strikes on Gulf countries forcing the closure of large portions of the region\u2019s airspace.<\/p>\n As well as dealing a blow to a region that is striving to lessen it economic dependence on fossil fuels, the upheaval has restricted the number of routes available to air carriers operating long-haul flights between Europe and Asia.<\/p>\n At least eight states announced full or partial airspace closures, including the UAE, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.<\/p>\n UAE carriers Emirates and flydubai temporarily halted all operations, while Etihad suspended all departures from Abu Dhabi.<\/p>\n More than 11,000 flights in and out of the region were cancelled in the opening days of the conflict, according to aviation data firm Cirium.<\/p>\n The UAE declared a \u201ctemporary and partial\u201d closure of its airspace at the beginning of the conflict in late February, before announcing a gradual reopening in March.<\/p>\n During the UAE\u2019s partial resumption of air traffic between March 1 and 12, the country\u2019s airports handled 1.4 million passengers and recorded 7,839 air traffic movements, while its national carriers saw their operations recover to 44.6 percent of normal levels.<\/p>\n A Pakistan-brokered ceasefire last month brought the conflict to a halt, paving the way for Saturday\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n Signs of a broader regional aviation recovery are emerging.<\/p>\n Qatar Airways on Saturday separately confirmed that it would resume flights to three Iraqi cities from May 10, after previously announcing plans to serve more than 150 destinations across six continents from mid-June.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n UAE aviation authority\u2019s announcement is the latest sign of the travel sector\u2019s recovery across the Middle East. Published On 3 May 20263 May 2026 The United Arab Emirates has lifted all flight restrictions put in place since the start of the United States and Israel\u2019s war on Iran, the country\u2019s civil aviation authority has announced. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21258,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21257","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21257"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21257\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21258"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21257"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21257"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21257"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/a11f7b32d0ba4a41ac4d70b6cd9d24ed_6.jpeg?resize=96%2C96&quality=80)
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