May 4 - Airlines operating in, to and through the Middle East have continued to modify schedules in response to sustained disruption associated with the Iran conflict. Some regional carriers have increased capacity after earlier interruptions, while many international operators are cancelling or rerouting flights that normally pass through or land in Middle Eastern hubs.
Summary of changes (alphabetical by carrier)
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AEGEAN AIRLINES - Greece's largest carrier said it will resume flights to Tel Aviv from Heraklion, Rhodes and Larnaca on May 21. Flights from Thessaloniki to Tel Aviv remain cancelled until June 26. AEGEAN will restart services to Beirut on May 12 and to Riyadh and Amman on May 21. Flights to Dubai are cancelled until June 29, and services to Erbil and Baghdad are suspended until July 2.
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AIRBALTIC - Latvia's airBaltic has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until June 28. Its services to Dubai are cancelled until October 24.
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AIR CANADA - The Canadian carrier has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Dubai until September 7.
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AIR EUROPA - The Spanish airline has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv until May 31.
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AIR FRANCE-KLM - Air France has suspended flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Dubai through May 20 and suspended flights to Riyadh through May 12. KLM has suspended services to Riyadh and Dammam until June 14 and to Dubai until June 22.
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CATHAY PACIFIC - The Hong Kong carrier has suspended flights to Dubai and Riyadh until June 30 and cargo freighter services to Dubai and Riyadh until May 31. It stated plans to operate all scheduled flights beyond June.
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DELTA - The U.S. carrier extended the suspension of its Atlanta-Tel Aviv route through November 30 and said it intends to resume New York-JFK to Tel Aviv on September 6. Delta also confirmed the planned Boston-Tel Aviv launch, originally scheduled for late October, is delayed until further notice.
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EL AL ISRAEL AIRLINES - El Al said it is continuing a gradual expansion of operations and, as of April 27, will operate flights to about 40 active gateways. All flights to Dubai are cancelled until May 31.
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EMIRATES - The UAE carrier said it is operating to 137 destinations.
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ETIHAD AIRWAYS - Etihad said it is operating a commercial flight schedule between Abu Dhabi and roughly 80 destinations.
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FINNAIR - The Finnish carrier has cancelled its Doha flights until July 2 and continues to avoid the airspace of Iraq, Iran, Syria and Israel. Finnair will only restart flights to Dubai in October.
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IAG - IAG-owned British Airways is reducing flights to the Middle East when services resume and will permanently drop Jeddah as a destination. British Airways plans to reduce services to Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv to one daily flight from July 1, and to cut Riyadh services from two daily flights to one from mid-May. These changes apply through the summer season ending October 24, with one Dubai service restarting on October 16. IAG's Iberia Express has cancelled flights to Tel Aviv through May 31.
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JAPAN AIRLINES - Japan Airlines has suspended scheduled Tokyo-Doha flights until May 31 and Doha-Tokyo flights until June 1.
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LOT - The Polish carrier suspended flights to Tel Aviv until May 31. LOT also cancelled flights to Riyadh until June 30 and to Beirut from March 31 to May 30. The airline plans to operate its winter route to Dubai in October.
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LUFTHANSA GROUP - Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Edelweiss have suspended flights to Tel Aviv until May 31 and to Dubai until July 11. Flights to Amman, Beirut, Dammam, Riyadh, Erbil, Muscat and Tehran are suspended until October 24. Low-cost carrier Eurowings has suspended flights to Tel Aviv until July 9, to Beirut until June 12, to Erbil until June 22 and has suspended services to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until October 24. ITA Airways extended the suspension of flights to Tel Aviv, Riyadh and Dubai until May 31.
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MALAYSIA AIRLINES - The Malaysian carrier will resume limited services to Doha from June 2.
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NORWEGIAN AIR - The low-cost airline has pushed back planned launches of its Tel Aviv and Beirut services to June 15.
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PEGASUS - Turkey's Pegasus Airlines cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq, Amman, Beirut, Kuwait, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Riyadh, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah until June 1.
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QANTAS - Australia's flag carrier is adding flights to Rome and Paris to meet an upswing in demand for European routes. Flights to Paris will increase to five return flights per week from three, and the Perth-Singapore service will increase from daily to 10 a week. An updated schedule will come into effect progressively for flights from mid-April and run until late July.
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QATAR AIRWAYS - Qatar Airways said it will resume passenger flights to Baghdad, Basra and Erbil airports in Iraq starting on May 10, and plans to expand its international flight network to over 150 destinations from June 16.
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ROYAL AIR MAROC - The Moroccan carrier said flights to Doha were cancelled until June 30 and flights to Dubai until May 31.
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SINGAPORE AIRLINES - Singapore Airlines extended the suspension of its Singapore-Dubai service until May 31, and has added services on the Singapore-London Gatwick and Singapore-Melbourne routes from late March until October 24 to meet higher demand.
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TURKISH AIRLINES - SunExpress, Turkish Airlines' joint venture with Lufthansa, has cancelled flights to Dubai until June 7.
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WIZZ AIR - The low-cost carrier delayed the return of flights to Israel until May 4 and is suspending flights to Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman from mainland European destinations until mid-September. All flights to Medina are suspended indefinitely.
Context and market implications
The operational changes outlined above show a mix of resumed routes, extended suspensions and network adjustments. Several national and regional carriers report resumed or expanded destination lists, while many international carriers have extended cancellations well into the summer and autumn schedule windows. Airlines continue to adjust their schedules for specified destinations and dates, either resuming services on stated dates or maintaining suspensions through the dates listed.
For markets and sectors, these schedule adjustments affect passenger travel flows, route planning and airline network capacity decisions. The cargo and freight sectors are also affected where freighter services are suspended for specified routes, as noted for at least one carrier. These changes are reflected in the detailed, carrier-by-carrier entries above.
Sources of schedule changes
The information in this report is derived from airline statements and published schedule updates. Each carrier's entry states the cancellations, suspensions or resumptions and the dates as provided by the respective airline.