The partial restart came after days of near-total shutdowns at some of the world's busiest aviation hubs — disruptions that rippled far beyond the conflict zone, stranding tourists, business travelers, migrant workers and religious pilgrims across multiple continents and snarling global travel that relies heavily on Gulf airports.
Long-haul carriers Etihad Airways and Emirates, based in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, along with budget carrier FlyDubai, said they would operate select flights from the country, where air traffic was suspended Saturday and defense systems have intercepted Iranian missiles and drones.
Dubai’s government urged passengers to go to airports only if contacted directly, warning that operations remained limited. More than 80% of the flights scheduled to and from Dubai and more than half of those to and from Abu Dhabi were still canceled, according to flight-tracking site FlightAware.
At least 15 Etihad flights departed from Abu Dhabi’s airport Monday to evacuate stranded passengers, according to tracking service Flightradar24, heading to destinations including Islamabad, Paris, Amsterdam, Mumbai, Cairo and London. Regular commercial flights, however, remained suspended.
