Iran-Israel conflict: UAE residents cancel travel plans to Georgia, Armenia

UAE residents are cancelling their travel plans to Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan, fearing they may be stranded if the Iran-Israel conflict expands into a war.

Travel agents in the UAE said people are also not taking non-essential and leisure travel to these destinations.

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Some countries including Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Israel and Syria have closed their airspace in the ongoing Iran-Israel military conflict. Hundreds of people – most Iranians – have died in the war.

Avinash Adnani, partner at Neo Travel and Tourism, said a lot of people who were planning to travel to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan are cancelling travel plans, fearing they may get stranded there due to the war.

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“Leisure and non-essential travellers are postponing their plans to destinations that are closer to the war zones as they’re facing cancellations and travel restrictions. We’re seeing package cancellations,” Adnani told Khaleej Times.

Free date change

Reena Philip, general manager of Air Travel Enterprises, Dubai, said there are a lot of cancellations and date changes due to the war as people are not travelling to nearby countries also for a few days.

“Trips are being postponed by people, hoping that the war will be over soon. Airlines told us that we can make free date changes,” she said.

Subair Thekepurathvalappil, senior manager at Wisefox Tourism, said most of the flights were cancelled to these destinations due to airspace closure, therefore, a lot of people are trapped in those countries and efforts are being made to bring them back.

20% increase in airfares

Thekepurathvalappil expects airfares to go up when travel fully resumes to these destinations after the conflict as people are trapped there.

“Since the summer travel season has set up, airfares have already gone much higher to many destinations. As soon as this war is over, a lot of people will travel to these destinations also which are closed now. And most of the airlines are full so this will result in an increase in airfares to countries affected by airspace closure due to war,” he said.

Avinash Adnani added that airfares could jump 20 per cent once airlines fully resume their flights to war-affected Middle East countries that have closed airspace in the ongoing Iran-Israel war due to pent-up demand.

“There are a lot of cancellations to countries that have closed airspace which will reduce the availability of flights to these destinations. This will result in an increase in airfares due to the pent-up demand. The UAE travellers are not taking business and non-essential trips to these countries, but emergency travels only.”

Reena Philip added that there will be a shortage of seats when the war ends and travel resumes, resulting in an increase in airfares on those routes. “People are postponing because airlines are cancelling flights.”

Waheed Abbas

Waheed Abbas is Assistant Editor, covering real estate, aviation and other business stories that directly affect the lives of UAE consumers. He frequently reports human interest stories, too.

waheedabbas@khaleejtimes.com