Flydubai suspends flights to three cities in Pakistan

Flydubai has suspended daily services to three Pakistan cities for “operational reasons”. Flights to Lahore, Islamabad and Peshawar have been affected, while services to destinations including Karachi, Faisalabad, Quetta, Sialkot and Multan remain functional, as per flydubai's website on Wednesday. “Flydubai has recently revised its flight schedule to Pakistan,” a representative for the airline told The National . “Customers whose flights have been affected are being contacted directly regarding their rebooking and refund options. Customers who have booked through a travel agent are advised to contact them directly. We apologise for the inconvenience caused to travel plans.” Flydubai launched daily flights from Dubai to Lahore and Islamabad in July 2024, while the Peshawar route was launched last year. Emails from flydubai dated May 11, and shared on social media by travellers, say flights are suspended to the three cities until further notice for "operational reasons", without elaborating. Other UAE airlines, including Emirates, Etihad Airways and Air Arabia, continue to operate flights to cities in Pakistan. Meanwhile, air travel to and from the Gulf is gradually recovering after large-scale airspace closures following the outbreak of the Iran war on February 28. Dubai Airports chief executive Paul Griffiths has predicted a rapid return to full capacity after the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority announced the full resumption of air traffic operations in the country on May 2. “Emirates and flydubai will lead the recovery, and we're going to see some very strong passenger growth numbers over the next few months,” Griffiths told The National . “Now we're able to operate at our full declared capacity of 1,396 movements, whereas for most of April we were operating something like 541 movements, which is less than 40 per cent of our normal operations throughout at DXB.” Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest international airport, reported a 66 per cent drop in passenger numbers in March as the war disrupted air traffic across the Middle East. The figures dragged down the airport’s first-quarter passenger traffic to 2.5 million, down 21 per cent compared to the same period last year.