Some flights from the Middle East have resumed, but confusion still reigns in the wake of the strikes on Iran.
12 Etihad Airways flights had departed Abu Dhabi as of around 5 p.m. local time on Monday, even as the airline said operations remain suspended.
Nearly 100,000 people tracked the first plane — a double-decker Airbus A380 bound for London — on Flightradar24 when it took off at 2:39 p.m. local time.
It was soon followed by 11 wide-body jets bound for cities across Europe and Asia:
- Flight 41 to Amsterdam
- Flight 33 to Paris
- Flight 843 to Moscow
- Flight 294 to Karachi, Pakistan
- Flight 204 to Mumbai
- Flight 300 to Islamabad, Pakistan
- Flight 216 to New Delhi
- Flight 555 to Riyadh
- Flight 611 to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- Flight 571 to Dammam, Saudi Arabia
- Flight 713 to Cairo
About an hour before the first flight, Etihad Airways said in an X post that “all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended” until 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
A notice on the airport’s website told passengers to check directly with their airline before heading there, “due to the temporary closure of UAE airspace.”
However, the site also showed several flights available for check-in.
In a statement shared with Business Insider following the departures, Etihad said that flights returning people to their home countries — or delivering cargo or repositioning the airplane — could operate “subject to strict operational and safety approvals.”
“All scheduled commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi remain cancelled,” it said.
Flights from airports in Dubai, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait remained suspended on Monday.
On Sunday, a Nepali national was killed, and seven people were injured by debris after an Iranian drone targeting Abu Dhabi airport was intercepted, officials said.
Abu Dhabi International Airport did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Lufthansa Airbus A380 also took off from Abu Dhabi earlier on Monday, bound for Munich. The enormous airplane can carry over 500 passengers, but an airline spokesperson told Business Insider there were only two pilots on board.
That’s because it arrived in Abu Dhabi three months ago for maintenance, which has now been completed.
The spokesperson said Lufthansa reviewed the possibility of flying passengers, but it would require at least 17 flight attendants who can’t be flown in “due to the current massive restrictions on air traffic in the United Arab Emirates.”
They added that airport accessibility for any potential passengers is “unclear and difficult to organize.”
“Reliable planning of check-in, security checks, and boarding cannot be guaranteed under these circumstances.”
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