ATHENS, Greece — Aegean Airlines Dubai flights will remain suspended through Aug. 31, 2026, the Greek flag carrier has confirmed, with full service not expected to resume until September. The decision deepens a months-long pullback by European carriers from Middle Eastern hubs since the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran in late February.
Affected passengers can request a full refund or rebook on the same route at a later date without the change fees normally tied to fare class. The carrier has set July 31 as the final day for travelers to make that election, a deadline that effectively forces a decision before peak summer departures.
Why Aegean Airlines Dubai Flights Remain Grounded
Aegean has historically operated some of the busiest European links into Dubai, running services from Athens as well as Thessaloniki and Rhodes, owing to Greece’s geographic position as a Mediterranean gateway to the Gulf. The Athens-Dubai route is currently scheduled to restart on Aug. 31, with other Greek city pairings to follow in September.
The airline first announced cancellations in March 2026, when it told passengers it expected only a brief suspension of weeks. It has since attempted to relaunch the Dubai service several times through the spring and pulled the route back each time as security conditions and airspace restrictions failed to ease.
In its March statement, the carrier said it was cancelling additional flights to and from airports in Israel, Iraq, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia because of ongoing developments in the Middle East. Details of the latest extension were first reported by TimeOut Dubai. Aegean has not issued a fresh public statement accompanying the September restart date, communicating the change directly through its booking and refund channels.
How the Iran War Is Reshaping European-Gulf Routes
Aegean is not the only major carrier delaying a return to the region. British Airways has confirmed that its London Heathrow to Abu Dhabi route will not restart until later this year, while Lufthansa and KLM are not running their usual services to Amman, Muscat and Riyadh until at least October. The staggered restart dates suggest carriers are pricing in continued volatility rather than a single coordinated reopening of Gulf airspace.
Pegasus Airlines, the low-cost Turkish carrier that competes with Aegean on several Middle East routes, has suspended its Dubai service until at least June 1. Pegasus said additional ticket flexibility rights have been extended to passengers holding bookings on flights to or from Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, citing airspace restrictions and recent developments.
Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and Royal Air Maroc have also either cancelled previously restarted service or pushed back restart dates that had been set earlier in the year. The wave of pullbacks is unfolding alongside a parallel crisis around elevated jet fuel prices, which has pressured airlines to cut routes that have not recovered pre-conflict passenger volumes.
Why This Matters for Travelers Booking Summer Trips
The widening suspensions land at the start of the European summer travel season, narrowing the available connections between the Mediterranean and the Gulf for tourists, business travelers and members of the regional diaspora. For Caribbean-based passengers routing through Athens or other European hubs to reach Dubai, the disruptions add another layer of complexity to itineraries that already involve long-haul connections and tight transfer windows.
The cancellations also reach beyond leisure travel. Caribbean professionals working in Gulf hospitality, construction and education sectors frequently rely on European stopovers, and the loss of Aegean’s Athens-Dubai corridor removes one of the more affordable options for that routing. Trade and conference travel between the region and the UAE, which has expanded since Caribbean delegations began attending events such as Expo City Dubai and the Arabian Travel Market, will also feel the squeeze through the summer window.
Travelers holding tickets on cancelled Aegean services are advised to lodge refund or rebooking requests through the carrier’s official refund application portal before the July 31 cutoff. Those rebooking are not required to remain within the original fare class restrictions, giving passengers some flexibility to shift travel dates into the autumn schedule.
