If you have a flight through Dubai this month, here's what three governments are warning you about

Dubai International and Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International are both still open, and both are still landing flights on schedule — but that is no longer the whole picture. As of this week the UK, the US and Australia all advise against non-essential travel to the United Arab Emirates, and more than a dozen airlines are still routing around Dubai and Abu Dhabi altogether. If your ticket touches Dubai in the next few weeks, including a connection on to Kathmandu or Pokhara, here is what has actually changed and what it means for you.

Is it actually safe to fly through Dubai right now?

Yes for the airports themselves, with a real caveat about the wider region. Both of the UAE’s major hubs are operating normally and neither is blockaded — the risk sits over the Gulf, not on the ground in the terminal. The conflict behind all of this began in February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran; two ceasefires have followed since, and both broke down, most recently in July 2026, with fighting over control of the Strait of Hormuz continuing since. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has extended a high-risk bulletin covering the airspace over Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, plus the Gulf of Oman west of 58°E, through 30 September 2026, citing missiles, drones, combat aircraft and unpredictable military activity. Debris from intercepted drones has already landed in Abu Dhabi during the current escalation, and GPS spoofing has been reported across the local flight information region.

What the UK, US and Australian governments are telling their citizens

All three now sit at the same practical level: go only if you have to. The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advises against all but essential travel to the UAE and tells travellers to stay away from areas near security or military installations and any site associated with US or Israeli interests, with shelter-in-place guidance if local authorities warn of falling debris. The US State Department has the UAE at Level 3, Reconsider Travel, and warns Americans already there to expect possible flight cancellations and sudden airspace closures. Australia’s Smartraveller lists the UAE as Orange — reconsider your need to travel — and flags that the UAE’s land border with Saudi Arabia can close, or restrict its hours, with little notice.

Which airlines are still avoiding Dubai and Abu Dhabi

Even with both airports open, several major carriers have kept their own suspensions running well into autumn and winter. Wizz Air has paused both its Dubai and Abu Dhabi routes until 24 October 2026, and Singapore Airlines has cancelled Dubai flights until the same date. Cathay Pacific postponed its daily Hong Kong–Dubai return to 25 October 2026. British Airways plans to resume Dubai service on 3 November 2026 but is keeping Abu Dhabi suspended into the 2027–28 winter schedule, and Air Canada has cancelled Dubai flights until mid-January 2027. None of this is a UAE-wide shutdown — it is individual airlines setting their own risk tolerance on one route while the airports keep functioning normally for everyone else.

What this means if you’re flying through Dubai to Nepal

For most Nepal-bound travellers, nothing changes yet. flydubai still runs about 28 direct flights a week between Dubai and Kathmandu, a roughly four-hour-ten-minute hop, and from 23 September 2026 it becomes the first UAE carrier to add a second Nepali route, flying daily to Pokhara. Emirates and Etihad also continue serving Kathmandu through their Dubai and Abu Dhabi hubs. None of those routes appears on the suspension list above, and neither Dubai nor Abu Dhabi airport has any blanket restriction in place.

Quick answers

Do I need to cancel a flight that connects through Dubai?

Not on the evidence so far. Dubai and Abu Dhabi airports are fully operational, and the airlines still flying Gulf routes — including every direct Dubai–Kathmandu and the new Dubai–Pokhara service — are running their normal schedule. Check your specific flight status close to departure rather than cancelling pre-emptively.

Will travel insurance cover a Dubai-related delay or cancellation?

Most standard policies cover an airline-initiated cancellation or a government advisory that reaches Do Not Travel, but coverage for a Reconsider Travel advisory — the level the UK, US and Australia are all currently at for the UAE — varies by insurer. Read the disruption and curtailment sections of your policy before you fly, and ask specifically about Gulf airspace risk if you are unsure.

Is this the same story as the US air traffic control outage?

No. The Northeast US telecom failure that grounded flights this month was a domestic equipment fault inside American airspace. This is a separate, longer-running regional conflict affecting flights over the Gulf, driven by the US-Iran confrontation that began in February 2026.

Cover photo: Tim Reckmann from Hamm, Deutschland via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Section photos: aboodi vesakaran via Pexels (Pexels licence); Atlantic Ambience via Pexels (Pexels licence); Kenneth Surillo via Pexels (Pexels licence); Joseph Walker via Pexels (Pexels licence); Pritam Chhetri via Pexels (Pexels licence).