While several major international carriers have slowly resumed flights into Dubai following the February 2026 U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran, the lack of progress to a ceasefire makes planning service into Middle Eastern cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Tel Aviv difficult for most U.S. and European airlines.
While resuming its flights to the city from JFK at the start of September, Delta Air Lines recently extended the suspension of service between Atlanta and Tel Aviv until December 2026. American Airlines, meanwhile, confirmed that it will not restart its route to Doha until 2027 at the earliest.
United Airlines pushes back Newark-Dubai flight until March 2027
United Airlines ran its first flights into Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport (TLV) from Newark Liberty (EWR) since suspending service at the start of the year on Sept. 8 but, this week, also announced that its route from the city to Dubai International Airport (DXB) has been pushed back until March 2027. The previous restart date had been set for February 2027.
The Chicago-based carrier has not provided an official statement on why the suspension of service has been extended for another month but, according to the refund policy posted on the airline’s website and its confirmation to several media outlets, travelers who were originally set to fly between October 24, 2026 and March 27, 2027 will be able to receive a full refund to their original method of payment.
Related: Another airline shuts down after losing license, cancels flights
Those who had flights earlier in the year will have already been contacted by a representative with their rebooking and refund options; as passengers have the option to keep pushing back their flight to a later date, those who did this instead of going for a refund also fall under the newly-extended window.
This comes as different airlines weight both the safety and financial risks of restarting service only to potentially have to shut it down again a few days or weeks later.
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What are the options for flying into Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the fall of 2026
Several international airlines have also been pushing back their restart dates for flights to Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
At the end of July, British Airways postponed the restart of its flight between London Heathrow (LHR) and Dubai from August until October 2026.
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“Due to ongoing uncertainty and airspace restrictions, some of our flights in the region have been cancelled or temporarily suspended, including services to and from Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, Tel Aviv, and Riyadh,” British Airways says in a statement that has been in place since March 2026.
Dutch flag carrier KLM has also pushed back the restart date of many of its key Middle Eastern routes from Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport (AMS) dozens of times; flights to Dubai (DXB), Riyadh (RUH), and Dammam (DMM) are now not going to restart until October.
As of September 2026, local United Arab Emirates carriers Emirates and Etihad are the ones running the most reliable service into Dubai and Abu Dhabi from cities such as New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Miami.
Related: Airline cancels flights until October, refunds available
