UAE airspace reopens: Fares during Eid Al Adha break, summer holidays to ease

[Editor's Note: Follow the Khaleej Times live blog for the latest regional developments with the US-Israel-Iran ceasefire now in effect.]

UAE residents wanting to travel for their Eid Al Adha break or the summer vacation will likely be able to purchase tickets to some locations at a much lower rate, according to travel experts.

This is after the UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) announced that air traffic in the country's airspace is now back to normal.

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“Due to the GCAA announcement, there will be more seats and thus lower prices to several locations,” said Safeer Mohammed, general manager of Smart Travels.

“The change in prices will begin reflecting from Monday once the weekend is over and airlines across the world revert to their scheduled flights to the region. We are expecting a surge in people wanting to travel.”

This year, Eid Al Adha is expected to fall either on Wednesday, May 27, or Thursday, May 28, depending on the moon sighting.

The Ministry of Education announced a nine-day break inclusive of weekends for schools, combining the mid-term break for the third term as well as the Eid al-Adha holidays.

Several families had decided not to travel during this time due to high ticket prices. That is likely to change with this move by the GCAA.

Select Locations

According to experts, the drop in prices will depend on the travel location. “Some airlines like United Airlines and Air Canada will not immediately reinstate their flights because they have deployed their aeroplanes to other regions,” said Raheesh Babu, COO of musafir.com.

“So those flying to the US, Canada and Europe will still have to pay high prices. We are expecting the rates to these destinations to stabilise by August.”

However, other locations will experience a drop in price rates. “We had several enquiries from UAE families for CIS countries during the Eid Al Adha break,” said Safeer.

“Till last week, ticket prices, which were around the Dh2500 mark before the war, had shot up to more than Dh4000 because of the airspace restrictions in the region. So many families had opted to swap international travel for staycations. That is likely to change in the coming days.”

The GCAA said that the precautionary measures that had been temporarily implemented after the US-Israel-Iran war commenced on February 28 were being lifted after it assessed operational and security conditions.

Travelling to India

The travel experts unanimously agreed that travel prices to India are likely to drop significantly.

“For example, Indigo, which has 40 scheduled flights every day to India, is now operating less than half of these,” said Raheesh.

“Same with Air India. So once these airlines reinstate their full schedule, prices will hopefully drop to the levels of the previous summer.”

Safeer added that at the beginning of April, one-way ticket prices to India were averaging around Dh1800-Dh2000.

“The prices were steadily dropping as more carriers reinstated their flights gradually,” he said. “Now that they have been granted permission to operate at their full capacity, the prices will drop even further.”

However, the experts have warned that the ticket prices will not drop to pre-war levels for a while.

“First, oil prices have remained high, which has driven up the cost of airline fuel,” said Noushad Hassan, MD of Alhind Business Center.

“Second, the airspace of some countries in the region remains problematic, so airlines flying to CIS countries and other western destinations are taking a longer route. This has driven up ticket charges.”