KLM, Finnair and Wizz Air Skip Dubai Until March as Lufthansa Pushes Its Return to 25 November

Skift adds that United, Air Canada and Virgin Atlantic are also staying out until spring or later. The exception is British Airways, which plans to restart on 3 November.

What does it mean for Dubai's tourism?

Skift says the missing airlines matter because they supply long-haul travellers who fill luxury hotels counting on a winter rebound. It cites AirDNA data showing booked nights at Dubai short-term rentals down 36 percent year on year for November, 8 percent for December and 6 percent for January, and CoStar data showing UAE hotel occupancy down 12.3 points to 67.6 percent in September. Dubai International itself is running close to full capacity on Emirates and flydubai, Skift says, citing Time Out Dubai.

Riyadh is far worse affected. Skift cites Cirium for 86 percent of scheduled departures cancelled since 8 October, after a 10 October strike at King Khalid International Airport that it says killed 13 people and which it ties to Houthi attacks on Saudi airports.

What can affected passengers do?

KLM will contact affected travellers directly, and, according to NOS as relayed by DutchReview, their options are a refund or rebooking on another airline. For anyone holding a ticket on one of the carriers above, the safest step is to check the airline's own site, since restart dates have slipped repeatedly. KLM had previously targeted 25 October for Dubai, Riyadh and Dammam before scrapping the plan on 10 October.

Dates are likely to keep moving. The next signals are Lufthansa's 25 November restart, which has already been postponed once, and whether British Airways' early restart persuades other carriers to follow before spring.