While airspace resumed flights and the aviation industry began to recover gradually, the airline flydubai suspended flights to Pakistan. This removed one of the most vital south Asian routes, without any news being made public. The Dubai-based low-cost airline, flydubai, also put an end to its Pakistan operations. The closure of all the flights to and from Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar is due to operational requirements, as of October 26. According to Flightradar24, the change will go into effect on May 7 at the minimum.
The route runs unabated as the airline’s longest-running one in Pakistan, Karachi. The UAE is home to 1.8 million Pakistanis, many of whom prefer to travel to the northern and central parts of Pakistan on affordable flights with flydubai. The suspension will mean a much lower connectivity for five months, along with increased fares, in what is already the most costly period of air travel since the war started.
Related Stories
What was suspended and when?
Flydubai embarked on its Pakistan operations with a mighty show. Islamabad and Lahore were powered up in July 2024 then Peshawar was powered up in May 2025. The airline envisioned the services as a low-cost alternative to the full-service carriers on the UAE-Pakistan route. The three have gone dark together, less than a year after the addition of Peshawar.
Flightradar24 data shows the affected services Islamabad-Dubai (FZ353 and FZ354), Lahore-Dubai (FZ359 and FZ360) and Peshawar-Dubai (FZ375 and FZ376) were cancelled on its account as of at least May 7. This is equivalent to more than a week of cancellations before the official announcement of suspension, meaning the decision to cancel was afoot prior to its official announcement.
The language of the airline is careful. The affected passengers are told to keep an eye on their flights before traveling, as flydubai is still flying on its network with a reduced timetable, according to a press release released on March 31. The airline did not specify if the Pakistan suspension was due to the regional conflict or its costs. The phrase “operational reasons” does not require elaboration under aviation industry convention.
Flydubai Suspended Flights: The “Operational Reasons”
The language airlines use to announce route suspensions is rarely the full explanation. The operational reality behind this one begins with jet fuel. Aviation turbine fuel prices surged to an all-time high of over Rs 2.07 lakh per kilolitre in April 2026, with fuel now accounting for nearly 40 percent of airline operating costs on affected routes. The International Air Transport Association warned in late April that the jet fuel crunch linked to the Iran war could affect Asia first and most severely.
For a low-cost carrier like flydubai, whose business model depends on operating thin margins at high load factors, a 40 percent fuel cost share on routes already operating under capacity pressure from the broader aviation disruption makes suspension the more rational commercial choice than continued loss-making operation.
Restrictions were already in place on the UAE airspace from February 28. Emirates and flydubai ended all flights for a few days in the initial days of the war, and Etihad suspended all flights from Abu Dhabi. Aviation data firm Cirium says the war’s early days resulted in over 11,000 flights being cancelled in the region. All the flight restrictions were removed on May 3 by the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority, but cost structures do not normalise as quickly as airspace does. While airspace was briefly reopened, fresh Iranian missile and drone attacks on May 4-5 forced the UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to reimpose partial airspace closures and flow-control measures.
Only Flydubai Suspended Flights, or Airlines Globally?
As flydubai suspended flights to Pakistan, this decision exists within a much broader pattern of UAE and global aviation retrenchment. Emirates is currently operating to 137 destinations across 72 countries. This is well below its pre-war network of 140+ destinations. In the meantime, Etihad is running a cut-down timetable and is gradually increasing services; and they are not back to pre-disruption levels. Air Arabia is flying from Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khaimah with a limited number of flights.
The same story is played out by global carriers reducing their flights to the UAE. Cathay Pacific has halted flights to Dubai and Riyadh at least until June. Singapore Airlines has extended its suspension from Dubai until May’s end. But Air Canada suspended its Dubai flights until early September. Besides, all flights within the Lufthansa group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, and Brussels Airlines) to Dubai were suspended until May 31 and flights to Abu Dhabi, Amman and Beirut until October 24.
Multiple airlines have announced their suspensions, including flydubai suspended flights to Pakistan till October 26. The October time frame denotes a general industry assessment. The meaningful normalisation of cost structures and route economics is not expected before the northern hemisphere winter schedule begins.
Pakistanis in the UAE
Expats from Islamabad, Lahore, and Peshawar who used the airline specifically because it was more affordable than full-service carriers, will remain the most impacted as flydubai suspended flights to Pakistan. With flydubai gone from three cities until late October. Now Emirates, Pakistan International Airlines and Air Arabia offer service to the corridor, all of which have higher base fares on the remaining capacity.
War-risk insurance premiums for journeys to and from the Gulf-South Asia have doubled since the end of February and fares between the UAE and Pakistan are already 30 to 35 percent above normal levels for the time of year. The removal of flydubai’s low-cost option from three major departure cities will push those fares higher still through the summer.
For the estimated 1.8 million Pakistanis in the UAE, the combination of higher fares, fewer options, and a five-month suspension on the routes connecting them to some of Pakistan’s most populous cities is not an abstract aviation story. It is a direct and immediate increase in the cost of going home.
Read More: Dubai’s Water Demand Is Breaking Records, Can DEWA Keep Up?
