Most airlines remain directly or indirectly affected by the ongoing war in Iran and the situation between Israel and Lebanon. Consequences include the price of jet fuel. Elsewhere, carriers flying to the Middle East have scaled back routes or flights in response to reduced demand, while Gulf operators continue to suffer from decreased confidence in connecting at hubs there.
British Airways is also affected. The oneworld member continues to suspend all its routes to the Middle East. Some other European carriers, such as Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Ryanair, and SWISS, have also done this. Others, like Virgin Atlantic, have ended — rather than just suspended — all routes to the region.
BA Continues To Suspend All Routes To The Middle East
In early 2026, before the war in Iran started, BA flew from its London Heathrow Airport (LHR) hub to eight cities in the Middle East: Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, and Tel Aviv. The carrier has since confirmed that its route to Jeddah, which is much lower-yielding than Riyadh, will not resume. The final flight to the Saudi city took place in April 2026.
Flights to Kuwait ended in 2025, having been operated for six or more decades. Perhaps not coincidentally, Jazeera Airways will begin flying to Luton next month. BA’s service to other cities in the region ended further back, such as Beirut, Dammam, and Muscat in 2020, and Tehran in 2018. Saudia launched Dammam-LHR flights in 2025. While that route was due to end, it has been saved, at least for now.
Cirium and Flightradar24 data show when BA last flew to each of its served cities in the Middle East. Based on departures from LHR, the carrier’s final outbound flight to Bahrain was on February 26, followed by Doha Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB) on February 27, Amman and Abu Dhabi on February 28, Riyadh on March 18, Jeddah on April 24, and Tel Aviv on May 3.
How many of them can you guess? See them all here!
As of June 17, BA’s resumption plans are summarized below. Most routes are due to return on October 25, when northern carriers, including BA, will switch to winter schedules based on IATA slot seasons.
Of course, it all depends on the war and the plan may be pushed back. Given LHR’s renowned lack of slots, along with the need to drive sales, they are probably unlikely to be moved forward. Crew safety, insurance premiums, and so on, will also be factors. Recall that Jeddah is no longer served.
LHR-DOH is due to be the first route back. BA effectively serves the oneworld market on behalf of its strategic joint venture partner, Qatar Airways (the Gulf carrier is the single largest owner of the International Airlines Group, of which BA is part). Combined, the pair plan ten to 12 daily departures from between the UK’s busiest airport and DOH in November, while Qatar Airways will also fly daily to London Gatwick Airport (LGW).
Initially daily 777-200ER, but there will be two daily flights from October 25; the second flight will be on the 787-10
Initially daily 787-8/787-9/787-10, but two daily flights from October 25; both services will be on the 777-200ER. Virgin recently ended service to Riyadh, while Riyadh Air’s official launch of LHR flights, using its own aircraft, took place on June 10
Three daily A380/787-10 (see all of BA’s A380 routes)
They all involve one airport that has been served for eight years. Find out the details here!
Let’s fast-forward to November. Assuming nothing changes, BA plans 12 daily departures from LHR to the Middle East. The region will account for 12.9% of the carrier’s non-European activity in that winter month. That’s a slightly smaller proportion than for Lufthansa (13.2%), but much more than others, like Air France (5.0%) and KLM (5.5%).
BA’s schedule submission to Cirium over the past 22 years has been examined. This indicates that the airline plans more services from London to the Middle East in November 2026 than in any November since 2019, when 12 to 14 daily departures were available. But the record in the past two decades or so was in November 2016, when 14 to 15 daily services existed. That was when 12 cities in the region were served.
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