Some flights from Abu Dhabi resume, but thousands more are canceled due to continued strikes from Iran
Kyiv • UNN
12 Etihad Airways flights departed from Abu Dhabi, although the airline had announced a suspension of operations. Almost 100,000 people tracked the first plane heading to London.
Some flights from the Middle East have resumed, but confusion still reigns after Iran's strikes, Business Insider reports, writes UNN.
Details
As the publication writes, 12 Etihad Airways flights departed from Abu Dhabi at approximately 5:00 PM local time (3:00 PM Kyiv time) on Monday, even though the airline stated that operations remained suspended.
Almost 100,000 people tracked the first plane - a double-decker Airbus A380 bound for London - on Flightradar24 when it took off at 2:39 PM local time.
It was soon followed by 11 wide-body aircraft heading to Paris, Amsterdam, Moscow, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Cairo, as well as to Pakistani Karachi and Islamabad and Saudi cities Riyadh, Jeddah, and Dammam:
- 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 announced in its X post that "all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended" until 2:00 PM on Tuesday.
"Due to the temporary closure of UAE airspace, passengers planning to travel today should contact their airline directly before heading to the airport," a banner on the airport's website stated on Monday. However, the website still showed several flights available for check-in.
Flights from Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait airports remained suspended as of approximately 7:00 AM ET (2:00 PM Kyiv time) on Monday.
On Sunday, officials said a Nepalese citizen was killed and seven people were injured by debris after an Iranian drone flying towards Abu Dhabi airport was intercepted.
Etihad and Abu Dhabi International Airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Earlier on Monday, a Lufthansa Airbus A380 departed from Abu Dhabi for Munich. The huge aircraft can carry over 500 passengers, but an airline spokesperson told Business Insider that there were only two pilots on board. This is because it arrived in Abu Dhabi three months ago for maintenance, which is now complete.
The spokesperson said that Lufthansa was considering carrying passengers, but this would require at least 17 flight attendants, who could not be brought in "due to the current massive air traffic restrictions in the United Arab Emirates."
They added that airport availability for any potential passengers was "unclear and difficult to organize."
"Reliable planning for check-in, security screening, and boarding cannot be guaranteed under these circumstances," the spokesperson stated.
Meanwhile, according to the BBC, most flights to Qatar and the United Arab Emirates have been canceled for Monday, amid ongoing strikes in the joint Israel-US war against Iran.
According to flight tracking service Flightradar24, over 4,000 flights per day have been canceled in the region, affecting hundreds of thousands of passengers.
According to communications director Ian Petchenik, the disruptions "will only worsen the longer the crisis continues" and "will have huge consequences for the industry."
According to aviation analytics firm Cirium, as of Monday, 79% of global flights to Qatar and 71% of flights to the United Arab Emirates had been canceled, while 81% of flights to Israel and 92% of flights to Bahrain were also suspended.
Qatar's national airline, Qatar Airways, stated that its flights remained temporarily suspended on Monday due to the closure of Qatari airspace.
"Qatar Airways will resume flights as soon as the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe opening of Qatari airspace," the airline wrote on X.
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