It seems that Lufthansa Group airlines cannot quite decide when they are ready to resume flights from their respective hubs (Frankfurt, Munich, Zurich & Vienna) to Dubai, and they have postponed them several times already.
Lufthansa, Swiss, and Austrian still imply on their websites that the travel would be about to resume, while ITA Airways, their latest member, has been quickest to update theirs with the cancellation information through March 27, 202.
ITA’s Announcement:
Due to the latest geopolitical developments, ITA Airways has extended the suspension of flights to and from Riyadh until January 7, 2027.
Furthermore, flights to and from Dubai are suspended until and including March 27, 2027.
Flights AZ812 e AZ815 between Roma and Tel Aviv are suspended until November 30, 2026, while the remaining two daily frequencies are confirmed.
Passengers can request rebooking on an alternative flight or a refund of their ticket. For further information, customers should visit our website or contact their travel agent.
Lufthansa Frankfurt – Dubai
Lufthansa has removed Frankfurt – Dubai flights from their schedule until March 28, 2027.
Lufthansa Munich – Dubai
Lufthansa’s Munich – Dubai flights have not yet been removed, but they have been “shadow” canceled, as all discounted fare availability has been removed. This usually means that the flights will be eventually cancelled.
Swiss Zurich – Dubai
Swiss has canceled all Dubai flights until March 28, 2027, and even then, only full fare classes are available on the restart date.
Austrian Vienna – Dubai
Austrian has removed Dubai flights from its schedule.
ITA Airways Rome – Dubai
ITA Airways has canceled Dubai flights until March 28, and even the flight on the restart date is completely zeroed out.
Eurowings Berlin – Dubai
Eurowings is supposedly restarting Dubai on November 25, but the first date with availability is November 26.
European Union Air Passenger Rights EC 261/2004:
Passengers booked on these now-canceled services are eligible for rerouting on airlines that are currently operating, or, if you were only going to transit in Dubai, to your final destination, bypassing the region altogether.
Note that the passenger can choose to be rerouted at the earliest convenience or opt for a full refund even on non-refundable tickets.
Note that if Lufthansa Group airlines inform you about their service cancellation less than 7 days before departure, the passenger is eligible for the EC 261/2004 cash compensation unless the passenger is offered rerouting that departs no more than 1 hour before the scheduled time and arrives no less than 2 hours later.
If you were informed between 7 and 14 days before, you are not eligible for the 600 euro compensation if the replacement flight leaves no more than 2 hours before or arrives no more than 4 hours later.
Even past the 14 days, the airline is required to pay the compensation if they don’t rebook the passenger at the earliest convenience, i.e., claiming that they can only rebook you on select partner airlines.
There is no carve-out for this on EC 261/2004 rules.
Conclusion
European airlines have great difficulty restarting their Dubai operations, which is likely due to the fact that there is reduced demand, while Emirates also relies on connecting traffic.
Lufthansa Group still hasn’t officially announced the cancellation of these services, even though they have mostly removed the availability.
Only ITA Airways has a proper announcement on its website, and I doubt these flights from Munich and Berlin will go ahead.
These cancellations also affect me this time, as I am ticketed on one of the services that now don’t operate to and from Dubai. Let’s see how the rebooking goes, since I didn’t book these directly with the airline.