Dubai restricts only one daily foreign airline until May 31, Indian airlines affected

Updated: Apr 11th, 2026

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Dubai has reportedly restricted foreign airlines to just one daily flight to its airports until May 31. This is likely to  hit Indian airlines with revenue losses.

In a private email to airlines on March 27, Dubai Airport reportedly told the airlines that carriers would be allowed one per day to Dubai International Airport (DXB), which is the world's busiest international airport. They further stated that this would be implemented from April 20 and remain in effect until May 31, due to the US-Iran war crisis.​

After the email received by airlines, the Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which represents top carriers IndiGo, Air India, and Spicejet, reportedly wrote a letter to Indian government in which they asked to push Dubai authorities to lift curbs over Indian airlines and also suggest to ask question why this restriction is not applying on Dubai airlines such as Emirates and Flydubai.

They also said that they asked this question to Dubai Airlines; they did not respond, only Flydubai said that its flight schedules were approved by the relevant authorities.

They also believe that this decision is making their situation worse as Indian carriers are already under financial pressure from higher fuel prices and longer routings to western destinations because they have been banned from using Pakistani airspace since last year, following military tensions between the two neighbours.

The reports suggest that this measure is taken after Gulf airlines have long complained about India’s bilateral air serviced agreement that caps the number of seats that can be deployed between countries, in which India has an edge. The report says that India was the largest source of passengers for DXB in 2025, with 11.9 million travellers passing through the hub.

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