Emirates cancels Kuwait flights, Air Arabia Baku and Malé

Emirates cancelled three Dubai to Kuwait flights and their returns on 28 October, and Air Arabia's Baku, Malé, Bangkok and Colombo flights were cancelled. Gulf News's list for the day, taken from Emirates' status page, shows EK853, EK855 and EK859 from Dubai to Kuwait and EK854, EK856 and EK860 from Kuwait as cancelled, with EK857 and EK858 scheduled; no reason is given, and Gulf News notes that not every cancellation is linked to the regional situation, as some are operational or technical. Air Arabia's cancellations again reach beyond Saudi Arabia: from Abu Dhabi to Baku, Colombo, Kuwait, Almaty, Chattogram and Cairo Sphinx, and from Sharjah to Malé, Bangkok, Krakow, London Gatwick, Damascus, Entebbe, Dhaka, Cairo Sphinx, Kuwait, Yekaterinburg and six Moscow Domodedovo services, alongside its Riyadh, Dammam and Abha flights.

Among arrivals at Dubai International, Emirates' EK637 from Peshawar, Fly Jinnah's 9P512 from Lahore, Kam Air's RQ901 from Kabul, Ethiopian Airlines from Addis Ababa, three SpiceJet flights from Ahmedabad, Pune and Kochi, two flynas flights from Riyadh and one from Gassim were cancelled, and at Zayed International arrivals from Doha, Tel Aviv, Delhi, Kathmandu, Moscow and Vienna were delayed. Gulf News's briefing of 28 October reported that departing seats from UAE airports rose by 23 per cent to 7.2 million between June and October and that up to 36 weekly Dubai to Europe flights are expected back by December, a line that predates Lufthansa Group's postponement of its return to 25 November; it said flights by Iranian airlines to and from the UAE and the Emirates and flydubai codeshare to Tel Aviv remain suspended until further notice, cited no new guidance from the UAE government, and advised residents to rely on official UAE channels for security notices. A ballistic missile aimed at Taif was intercepted early on 28 October, and debris from two missiles intercepted over Riyadh the evening before damaged a building and a vehicle (see the Saudi Arabia thread).

Residents with an Azerbaijan, Maldives, Thailand or Sri Lanka holiday booked on Air Arabia, or flying to Kuwait with Emirates, should confirm the flight with the airline before leaving for the airport, and an unresolved complaint about a cancellation can be taken to the Dubai Civil Aviation Authority within 14 days.