Air France has now officially canceled Dubai flights until November 11 and Riyadh until December 12, 2026, but they have “shadow” canceled these flights further out.
Last week, Air France “shadow” canceled (withdrew all the inventory) Dubai flights until December 1, but they must have had a change of heart, as the availability is now back from November 19 (see the difference between the official and unofficial cancellation dates).
You can access Air France here.
Air France Dubai & Riyadh cancellations update:
Situation in the Near and Middle East.
Updated : 05 November 2026, 11:30am Paris local time
Air France is monitoring the developments in the Near and Middle East in real time.
Due to the evolving security situation:
Flights to and from Riyadh are suspended up to and including December 12, 2026.
Flights to and from Dubai remain suspended up to and including November 11, 2026.
Affected customers are being contacted individually.
The flexible booking options outlined below allow customers to cancel or postpone their trip free of charge, even if their flight has not been cancelled.
Air France reiterates that the safety and security of its customers and crews are its absolute priority.
The Dubai flights were officially previously canceled until November 5, but they have now extended this to November 11.
However, all availability on Dubai flights is withdrawn until November 19, so I truly doubt the service will resume before then, unless they plan to fly completely empty planes to the city.
Air France has no availability for flights to Riyadh until January 1, 2027.
Why would Air France do this?
As long as the flights aren’t completely canceled, they can pretend they are operating and refuse to rebook passengers.
Eventually, however, they need to rebook passengers, but it seems they only push out the cancellation on the Dubai route by a week, or at most two, at a time.
They are not selling seats for these “shadow” canceled flights, so it is likely that their loads are very low, and another reason not to operate them.
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 Air France or KLM informs 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
It seems Air France just pushes out the Dubai flight cancellations by a week or so every few days, but has canceled the flights internally much further out.
KLM, part of the Air France-KLM Group, has already canceled the services to Dubai through the end of March (read more here).
Not sure why Air France plays these games and pretends these flights will soon restart when, in fact, they have been canceled much further out than they are communicating.
Wouldn’t it be better for Air France to rebook affected passengers now rather than a week out?
If you are on these Air France services to Dubai or Riyadh, these flights have already been canceled, but rebooking won’t happen until they officially cancel them.