Dubai limits foreign flights until May 31, letters show, hitting Indian airlines hardest
Dubai had already limited foreign carriers to only one flight a day to its airports until May 31 because of the Iran crisis, triggering fears of revenue loss for Indian airlines — which had aligned more flights than any other country's airlines — letters show.
The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA), which represents the largest airlines, or carriers -- IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet -- has requested that India pressure Dubai authorities to withdraw the curbs and in case that does not happen, consider applying reciprocal measures on Dubai's own carriers including Emirates and flydubai, according to a letter it sent to the Indian government on 31 March.
Indian carriers are already under financial strain from rising fuel costs and longer routings to Western destinations after the airlines were banned from using Pakistani airspace since last year due to military tensions between the neighbours.
In a private email to airlines dated March 27 and seen by Reuters, Dubai Airports said that carriers would be limited to one round trip per day into both Dubai International Airport (DXB) — usually the world’s busiest international travel hub — and the smaller Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) during April 20-May 31 summer season in an enforcement of restrictions first imposed after war broke out.
“Carriers are still limited to one rotation per day, until … capacity permits the facilitation of additional slots,” it said.
The curbs were not being applied to the airlines in Dubai such as Emirates and flydubai, resulting in an uneven playing field and potential "substantial" revenue losses, the FIA said.
Dubai Airports and Dubai’s media office did not respond to multiple requests for comment. Flydubai stated its flight schedules had been approved by the relevant authorities. Emirates did not reply to a request for comment.
The measures follow complaints by Emirates and other Gulf airlines in the past about India’s bilateral air service agreements, which place a ceiling on how many seats can be deployed between countries. Indian officials have argued that such pacts protect Indian airlines in the competitive market.
Indian Carriers Most Affected by Caps
India retained its position as the largest contributor of passengers to DXB in 2025, with 11.9 million out of the 61.7 million travellers passing through the hub during that year.
The India impact will be greatest for the Dubai caps, according to April and May schedules data from Cirium.
In that period, Air India and its budget carrier Air India Express have set up upwards of 750 flights into DXB. IndiGo comes in third at 481, followed by Saudia and Gulf Air which anticipated 480 and 404 respectively. India's SpiceJet had planned 61.
That one-flight-per-day cap would amount to about 30 or 31 a month for each of the foreign airlines, as compared with the hundreds of daily flights Emirates and flydubai are operating now, according to Flightradar24 data.
The Middle East crisis and the new Dubai extended restrictions “significantly constrained” its operations, IndiGo said in a statement to Reuters, as it also had an approved summer schedule of 15 daily flights from India to Dubai.
Consequently, a major part of IndiGo’s capacity and aircraft time are presently underutilized,” the airline said in its first statement about the crisis.
Air India and SpiceJet, as well as Indian authorities, did not respond to requests for comment.
Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines and British Airways had very few flights to Dubai than Indian carriers before the crisis started and have suspended all operations to the city until at least May 31.
Instead, they are adding more non-stop Asia-Europe flights to capitalize on robust passenger demand that has pushed up prices.
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