Resumption of the Dublin-Doha service by Qatar airways, Doha QR46@21.20 & inbound QR45, has been postponed for a second time. It is now programmed to resume on Monday March 2 rd. A planned resumption of the service was previously postponed on Friday.
Across the Middle East the aviation sector across is showing tentative signs of recovery following the widespread disruptions caused by the recent conflict involving Iran but full restoration of services remains some way off. Qatar Airways has begun ramping up its operations with a revised limited schedule now in place until at least the end of March after the carrier switched from a handful of repatriation flights to resuming normal scheduled services on 18 March.
Transit passengers are once again able to connect through Doha although the airline has scaled back its planned departures significantly from an initial target of around 180 daily flights to just 43 on some days and it will take several weeks to rebuild the network towards pre war levels with certain widebody aircraft already moved into long term storage.
In Abu Dhabi Etihad Airways has steadily increased its activity and now operates close to 40pc of its pre Iran war capacity with 82r departures recorded from Zayed International Airport on 21 March while the airline has reconnected to more than seventy destinations worldwide under a limited schedule that began on 6 March. Dubai based Emirates is pursuing a more ambitious path towards full restoration and is currently running at roughly 60pc of pre war levels with plans to reach 100pc by the end of the month. Yesterday Emirate operated 368 flights, Etihad 128 and Qatar 111.
The three major Gulf hubs in Abu Dhabi Doha and Dubai are all prioritising the reconnection of key routes to Europe Asia and beyond yet capacity constraints and ongoing safety approvals mean that pre war schedules are still far from being achieved.
Airspace reopenings have occurred in a limited fashion across parts of the region with the United Arab Emirates maintaining tightly controlled routing corridors and Qatar permitting restricted operations through designated pathways. Syria has also opened a partial northern corridor via Aleppo yet full closures persist in several key areas including Iran Iraq Kuwait Bahrain and Yemen while Israel Jordan and Saudi Arabia continue to enforce significant restrictions.
Ten countries across the Middle East and Persian Gulf are now affected by these measures either fully or partially and the situation remains fluid with short notice changes possible. Reopening prospects have extended northward to Azerbaijan where the southern sector of its airspace was closed following a drone incident and temporary waypoint restrictions have been introduced for overflying traffic; this has turned the Caucasus route into one of the few viable bypass corridors for Europe to Asia flights although congestion and further limitations have narrowed options considerably.
Repatriation flights have played a critical role in easing the crisis with governments around the world organising special charters to bring home tens of thousands of stranded citizens yet operators have encountered considerable difficulties including the need for special approvals such as no objection certificates limited time windows for departures and frequent last minute cancellations caused by shifting airspace conditions.
European airlines meanwhile continue to face a formal prohibition under the European Union Aviation Safety Agency conflict zone information bulletin which has been extended until 27 March and advises operators to avoid the airspace of 11 specified Middle Eastern countries at all altitudes except for tightly defined southern sectors in Saudi Arabia and Oman. This has impacted on Irish aircraft in Jordan for maintenance which are required for the resumption of the summer aviation season form next weekend.
It has also led many carriers to suspend services to the region reroute long haul journeys and boost direct connections to Asia and Africa bypassing the Gulf hubs altogether.
Scheduled Dublin flights
The departures from Dublin are:
- Dubai EK162@13.10 & inbound EK161
- Dubai EK164@20.50 & inbound EK163
