As a tenuous ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran continues to hold, airline operations in the Middle East are beginning to see a degree of stabilization.
Flight schedules in the region have been seeing a slow and steady recovery in recent days, according to data from Cirium.
Cancellation rates have stabilized in the Middle East, hovering at about 10% as of the first week of April, according to Cirium, as the three major carriers in the Gulf have begun to restart a portion of their operations.
According to Reuters, Dubai-based airline Emirates is operating a reduced flight schedule following the limited reopening of airspace in the region.
Fellow United Arab Emirates carrier Etihad is also operating a commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and 80 destinations around the world.
Similarly, Qatar Airways is increasing its number of daily flights on a gradual basis with the goal of restarting routes to more than 120 destinations by the middle of May.
Although the three Gulf-area carriers have seen some recovery to operations, they have drastically cut flight schedules compared to plans before the conflict. They have collectively removed more than 5.4 million seats and more than 18,000 flights for the month of April alone, according to Cirium. These reductions are likely to continue into the near future, Cirium’s report says.
Outside of the Middle East, international airlines are still avoiding the region for the next few weeks. Air France has suspended its routes to the region (including cities like Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai, and Riyadh) until at least May 3, while partner carrier KLM will suspend operations there until May 17.
Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has canceled its flights to Dubai and Riyadh through at least the end of June, but plans to add additional flights to London, Paris, and Zurich throughout April to meet growing demand for flights to Europe.
Lufthansa Group, the parent company for several European carriers like Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, and Edelweiss, is similarly suspending all routes to Dubai and Tel Aviv until at least the end of May, while flights to other cities in the Middle East are canceled until late October.
Carriers in the United States are taking a more conservative approach. The major U.S. airlines, including American Airlines, Delta, and United, have halted service to hubs in the Middle East like Tel Aviv, Dubai, and Doha, until at least July or, on certain routes, until the first week of September.
All three U.S. carriers have fee waivers in place to give travelers extra flexibility to change their flight itineraries to and from the region at no extra cost.
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