On the morning of February 28, 2026, the Gulf's aviation machine ground to a near halt. Emirates, which had operated 531 flights the previous day, ran just 24. Qatar Airways — one of the world's most connected carriers, linking 160 destinations out of Doha — operated roughly 40 daily passenger flights, about one-fifth of its normal schedule. Flydubai was at a third of capacity. Over the following four weeks, more than 20,000 Gulf flights would be cancelled as the Iran conflict closed or restricted airspace across the region and aircraft had to be rerouted, grounded or redeployed.
Today, June 19, the story has changed completely — and faster than almost anyone in aviation predicted.
Total flights by major Gulf carriers have recovered to approximately 82% of their pre-war February 27 benchmarks, according to Flightradar24 data. Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways have already crossed back through the 100% mark. The leading three — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad — are operating at or near 90% of pre-war capacity collectively. Four weeks ago, Etihad and Qatar were still at 40–50%.
The recovery, however, has not been uniform. And in those differences lies the real story.
Emirates : Never Stops Flying
Emirates made a deliberate, costly bet during the worst weeks of the conflict. Keep flying, maintain connections, absorb the disruption rather than walk away from it. When other carriers were parked on aprons and offering open refunds, Emirates was rerouting aircraft over Central Asia, running reduced frequencies to over 100 destinations, and protecting its transit hub function even as it cut nearly 1,000 departures in June.
By early May, when the UAE General Civil Aviation Authority lifted airspace restrictions on May 2, Emirates moved immediately — restoring 97% of its global network within days, reaching 137 destinations in 72 countries. It is now at approximately 86% of pre-war capacity and still climbing, with more than 1,300 weekly flights back online.
The cost of the strategy was real--frequency cuts to Delhi, Tokyo, Dublin, Athens, São Paulo. But the payoff is also real. Emirates came out of the crisis with its network architecture largely intact and its brand narrative, that it kept flying when others didn't, firmly in place.
Qatar Airways: The Steepest Fall, the Most Surgical Comeback
Qatar's story is sharper and more complicated. At the height of the disruption, Qatar Airways was operating at just 20% of its pre-war schedule, the weakest position of any major Gulf carrier. Doha airspace was severely restricted, forcing the airline to ground its entire A380 fleet in April and park all eight operational superjumbos at Hamad International Airport.
The A380 resumption originally planned for June 1, then pushed to June 16, finally happened this week. But Qatar is being deliberate rather than hasty. The superjumbos are currently flying only two routes, Doha–London Heathrow and Doha–Bangkok, each twice daily. Sydney, Paris, and Singapore return on A380s from September 16. A fuller A380 programme comes only in October.
The airline's A380 operations will be 43% lower year-on-year in 2026 compared to 2025 a permanent scar from the conflict on what was one of the most ambitious widebody programmes in Asia.
The sky over the Gulf is open again. The race to fill it has already begun.