Emirates to resume flights after brief halt on missile threats

Published Sat, Mar 7, 2026 · 05:01 PM

[DUBAI] Dubai’s Emirates plans to resume operations after flights were temporarily suspended on Saturday (Mar 7), following disruptions caused by another round of interceptions.

About 30 minutes after it closed check-in and told passengers not to go to the airport, the carrier said that it will resume operations and travellers with confirmed bookings could proceed to the airport.

Its planes were avoiding the airspace over the United Arab Emirates in the early hours of Saturday after the country intercepted projectiles in its airspace and experienced a “minor incident” resulting from debris. Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest hub for long-haul travel, also temporarily suspended operations.

The events come a day after Dubai’s flag carrier said that it will return to full network operations in the coming days, following a week-long hiatus prompted by attacks from Iran. The persistent threats show the scale of challenges facing the carrier as it looks to resume flights.

Earlier on Saturday, Iran’s president said that he’d instructed the military not to attack any country that is not striking the Islamic Republic. Those comments came even as projectiles continued to be fired at the UAE and other Gulf states.

Emirates has been forced to cancel thousands of flights as retaliatory strikes from Iran led the UAE to shut its airspace and caused minor structural damage to the hub at Dubai International Airport.

Airlines in Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait have also seen their operations halted. Abu Dhabi’s Etihad said on Friday that it planned to resume operations on some routes, while Qatar Airways has said that it will operate repatriation flights on Saturday after the nation’s civil authority was able to operate a safe air corridor.

While Emirates has not commented on the cost from the disruption, the week-long pause in commercial operations and the resulting dislocation of planes and crews will impact revenue. The last time the carrier experienced a broader stoppage was during floods in Dubai in 2024, which Emirates said led to US$110 million in losses.

Some international competitors have seized on the opportunity, with Deutsche Lufthansa saying it will put more capacity on long-haul routes to Asia and Africa. BLOOMBERG