Airline suspends Middle East services - including flights to Dubai
An airline has suspended its Middle East services as the conflict in the region continues.
Virgin Atlantic has ended a winter seasonal Dubai service earlier than planned. It comes after the airline cancelled six flights between Friday and today (Monday).
Virgin Atlantic has suspended its flight route between London and Dubai for the rest of the winter season. The airline's winter route was meant to run until 28 March, but in a statement issued on Sunday, 8 March, it said: “The recent escalation in the Middle East has brought forward the end of our operation for this season.”
Those with tickets for Virgin flights are advised to contact the airline as its teams are “actively working to support those who still need to travel, including exploring and securing arrangements with other airlines wherever possible.”
Priority will be given to passengers who are overseas from their home country. Those passengers are asked to register on the ‘Away From Home’ section on the Virgin website.
If flight cancellation has affected a customer financially, “reasonable expenses” for accommodation, meals and transport will be covered by the airline when receipts are submitted through an online form.
The airline has also suspended a route between London and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia for two weeks due to the ongoing Iran crisis.
The suspensions followed “extensive safety and operational assessments” following airport and airspace closures in Dubai and Riyadh on Saturday.
Virgin Atlantic said: “We have strict criteria that must be met for a flight to continue into any region, and our criteria for proceeding to Dubai and Riyadh were not met.
“As a result, we took the decision to cancel a number of our London Heathrow, Dubai and Riyadh rotations, and safely divert affected services.”
Emirates continues to operate a reduced flight schedule from Dubai following the partial re-opening of regional airspace on Saturday. Etihad Airways did the same from Abu Dhabi saying 70 destinations, including Heathow, Manchester and Dublin, were scheduled to be included beween March 6 and March 19.
Saudia partially resumed flights to Dubai but extended the suspension of services to Amman, Kuwait, Abu Dhabi, Doha and Bahrain until March 10.
