Dubai International Airport is open and operating today, with flights moving through all three of its terminals, though travelers should be prepared for ongoing delays and a reduced schedule from several international carriers as the airport continues navigating one of the most disruptive periods in its history.

According to Dubai Airports’ official flight information system, no scheduled closures are in place, and the airport’s real-time departures and arrivals boards continue listing active flights as of this week. Emirates and flydubai, the two homegrown carriers that form the backbone of DXB’s operations, have continued flying throughout the ongoing disruption, together accounting for more than 220 combined daily departures even during the height of regional tensions earlier this year.

DXB’s current situation traces back to the outbreak of renewed conflict between the United States and Iran on February 28, which triggered a near-total closure of Gulf airspace and one of the most severe operational crises in the airport’s history as the world’s busiest hub for international passenger traffic. During the most disruptive stretch, between late March and April, regional airspace closures forced cancellations and flight suspensions across DXB’s network, with some airlines instructing passengers not to travel to the airport until their flights were reconfirmed.

A tentative U.S.-Iran ceasefire that took effect April 8 triggered a wave of airline reinstatements, with Qatar Airways resuming daily Dubai service from April 23 and other Gulf carriers, including Saudia, returning to the route around the same time. By July 1, Dubai Airports described the airport as having returned to normal operations, with British Airways announcing it would resume flights to Dubai that same day, albeit at a reduced scale of one daily flight rather than its prior three.

That recovery, however, has proven fragile. Renewed fighting between the United States and Iran in the weeks since has once again disrupted regional air travel, with flight-tracking data showing 257 delays and 21 cancellations at DXB on a single day, July 12, affecting Emirates, flydubai and Saudia, according to tracking compiled from FlightAware data. Saudia accounted for the highest number of outright cancellations that day, with 16 flights scrapped, while Emirates and flydubai bore the brunt of the delays. The disruptions rippled outward to airports well beyond the Gulf, with European gateways including London Heathrow, London Gatwick, Milan Malpensa, Istanbul, Munich and Hamburg all registering schedule disruptions tied to the Dubai delays, alongside South Asian routes to Colombo, Dhaka and Delhi, and longer-haul connections to Singapore, Bangkok, Phuket, the Maldives and Cape Town.

A number of major international carriers have opted to suspend their Dubai routes entirely for portions of the summer rather than continue operating amid the uncertainty. British Airways has paused all flights to Dubai, Tel Aviv, Bahrain and Amman for the remainder of the summer season, with service not scheduled to resume until October 25. Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific has canceled all flights to and from Dubai through at least September 1, with affected customers already contacted regarding rebooking options. Finnish carrier Finnair has said it will not resume Dubai service until October, as part of its broader fall and winter schedule. Kazakh airline Air Astana confirmed it suspended its Almaty-Dubai route for July 13 and 14 specifically due to the ongoing regional situation, offering affected passengers full refunds or free rebooking on flights scheduled between July 12 and 31.

Despite the wave of suspensions among long-haul international carriers, Dubai Airports has emphasized that Emirates and flydubai continue running a reduced but still wide-ranging schedule, ensuring the airport remains functionally open and connected to a substantial portion of its normal route network even as several major partners remain grounded on the Dubai route. Passengers affected by cancellations tied to the disruption have specific consumer protections depending on their routing. Travelers flying to or from the United Kingdom or European Union on a UK or EU carrier, or departing from a European hub, are covered under EU261 or UK261 regulations, which do not typically require cash compensation for delays caused by extraordinary security threats but do obligate airlines to provide meals, refreshments and hotel accommodations for significant overnight delays. Passengers on flights to or from the United States are entitled to a full cash refund to their original payment method under U.S. Department of Transportation rules if their flight is canceled and they decline rebooking.

Dubai Airports has maintained a standing advisory throughout the disruption period urging travelers to confirm departure times directly with their airline before heading to the airport, rather than relying solely on previously booked schedules, given how quickly conditions have continued to shift in response to developments in the broader U.S.-Iran conflict. The advisory has remained active since the crisis first began in late February and continues to apply as regional tensions have flared again in recent weeks.

For travelers with upcoming trips through Dubai, real-time flight status can be checked directly through Dubai Airports’ official flight information portal, which lists current departures and arrivals across all three terminals, as well as through independent flight-tracking services. Given how frequently the situation has shifted throughout 2026, from full airspace closures in the spring to a brief return to normalcy in early July to renewed delays and cancellations in the weeks since, aviation analysts have cautioned that DXB’s operational status is likely to remain fluid for as long as the underlying conflict between the United States and Iran continues.

For now, the answer to whether Dubai International Airport is open today remains yes, with flights actively departing and arriving across the airport’s terminals. But travelers connecting through one of the world’s busiest aviation hubs should continue checking their specific flight status closely, particularly if flying with one of the numerous international carriers that have chosen to pause Dubai service entirely rather than navigate the continued uncertainty tied to the broader regional conflict.

Among the waste products the system clears are proteins called amyloid and tau, the deposits that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. A single sleepless night measurably raises amyloid levels in the fluid surrounding the brain. Do that repeatedly, year after year, and the implications are troubling.

A Swedish study by researchers at the Karolinska Institute, tracking more than 13,000 shift workers, including night shift workers, for up to 41 years, found that shift work in mid-life was associated with a 36% higher risk of dementia – with the risk rising the longer someone had worked shifts.

Foster is careful not to overstate the link. “You wouldn’t say poor sleep causes dementia,” he says, “but if you’re vulnerable, it’s a potential risk factor.”

Markus’s data shows a possible link, but he cautions that it is a hypothesis at this stage and there are likely to be many other factors at play.

“Sleep matters,” he says, “but so do the big vascular things – blood pressure, smoking, diabetes. What’s never mentioned is how much of the risk of Alzheimer’s comes from those – things we could actually do something about.”

There are also tentative but growing indications of how sleep disturbance might increase the risk of heart disease. An analysis of 35 studies published last year found that sleep reduced to around 4.5 hours for three or more nights significantly raised the activity of the body’s immune system. This is normally a good thing when it is roused to fight infection but also causes inflammation in the body which if persistent is associated with heart disease.

Disrupted sleep raises the stress hormone, cortisol, which in turn promotes insulin resistance and pushes the body toward a diabetic state. Higher levels of cortisol also worsens sleep further, locking workers into a self-reinforcing cycle. Add to this the sugar-hit snacking that keeps some shift workers going overnight and it makes for an extremely unhealthy cocktail.

As if that were not enough, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), has classified night shift work as “probably carcinogenic to humans” and put it in the same risk group as red meat, citing evidence for links to breast, prostate, colon and colorectal cancers.

This may be because disruption to the body’s circadian system alters timing of the production of melatonin, a hormone thought to have tumour-suppressing properties, as well as reduced vitamin D from lack of daylight, and the chronic low-level inflammation that broken sleep promotes.

The EU’s new border system has nearly tripled the time it’s taking for Brits to get through passport control even after improvements have been made, a boss at Rome’s main airport has said.

It comes as Ryanair has warned passengers travelling to Europe this summer to prepare for extended waits.

Border police at Portugal’s Faro airport also told the BBC the Entry Exit System technology suffered from bugs, but insisted any queues there would go down quickly.

The European Commission (EC) has said in most EU airports disruption is limited, and added that it will continue to support member states in the system’s implementation.

It added: “This support will continue to the fullest extent possible.”

The digital Entry Exit System (EES) requires non-EU citizens entering the Schengen area – made up of 29 European countries – to register fingerprints and a photo when they arrive. The information is checked as they leave.

It’s often done using standalone, automated machines known as “kiosks” and sometimes with border officers – for example, for children under 12. The new process and machines have been phased in since October.

Some European airports have seen hours-long queues at passport control. Passengers have even reported missing flights home.

This week, Ryanair said “the failed EES rollout” was causing unnecessary delays and long queues.

The airline said UK passengers should “allow extra time for their journey and be prepared for extended waits at passport control.”

In Rome, a perennially popular destination for tourists from the UK and around the globe, everyone we spoke to in the Piazza di Spagna had an EES story.

Originally published on July 17, 2026

By Jennifer Nash

Building permits fell 3.0% in June to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.367 million. The latest reading missed the forecast of 1.400 million. Building permits are down 2.3% from

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