16 Airlines Still Skipping Dubai, Pushing Luxury Hotel Recovery to Spring

At least 16 airlines based outside the Gulf are still not flying to Dubai, and several now will not return until the end of March 2027. That removes much of the long-haul seat capacity Dubai's hotels were counting on for the winter season — capacity that feeds the international guests luxury properties depend on.

The latest delays landed within the past week. Dutch carrier KLM said on October 26 it will not fly to Dubai at all during the 2026/27 winter season, which runs through March 27. Germany's Lufthansa Group said on October 23 it had pushed its return to November 25, the latest in a string of delays since March, citing the situation and outlook in the Middle East.

Both carriers now sit alongside Finnair, United, Air Canada and low-cost operator Wizz Air, all staying out of Dubai until spring. British Airways is the exception among large European network carriers: it plans daily Dubai service from early November.

What does this change for hotel operators?

The timing hurts. Some Dubai hotel operators told Skift last week they expected European airlines to return with the winter schedules in late October, and some said that shift was already lifting December bookings. Forward booking data pointed the other way.

• Booked nights at Dubai short-term rentals for November were down 36% year over year as of September 30, according to AirDNA.
• UAE hotel occupancy fell 12.3 points year over year to 67.6% in September, according to CoStar.

The gap matters because Dubai International is not empty. The airport runs close to full capacity on Emirates and flydubai schedules. But the absent foreign carriers feed long-haul guests from their own networks — the guests that matter most to Dubai's luxury hotels.

The disruption extends beyond the UAE. In Saudi Arabia, suspensions follow a month of Houthi attacks on airports, including an October 10 strike at Riyadh's King Khalid International that killed 13 people. Cirium data shows 86% of scheduled Riyadh departures have been canceled since October 8.

For operators planning around a European winter rebound in the Gulf, the practical answer is to plan for a later one. Until carriers commit to spring schedules, December and January room demand will rest on Gulf-based networks rather than European long-haul feed.