UAE-based airlines have cancelled some flights and re-routed others as multiple countries in the region closed their airspaces temporarily. Two Fly Dubai flights that took off for Amman, Jordan, and Tel Aviv, Israel, had to return to Dubai as a result. This came as Iran began an airborne attack against Israel in retaliation for what it called an Israeli strike on its Damascus consulate on April 1 that killed seven Revolutionary Guards officers. Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said it cancelled its services to Tel Aviv and Amman on Sunday, April 14, in response to the closure of airspaces in the region. “The flights affected are EY593 from Abu Dhabi (AUH) to Tel Aviv (TLV) and EY594 from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi, and the EY513 from Abu Dhabi to Amman (AMM) and the EY514 from Amman to Abu Dhabi,” a spokesperson for the airline told Khaleej Times in a statement. The carrier said it is re-routing a number of its European and North American flights on Sunday to overfly Saudi Arabia and Egypt following “notification of the closure of airspace over Israel, Jordan and Iraq”.
