Thousands of Easter holidays to Cyprus and Dubai at risk as flight chaos to last weeks ...Middle East

Thousands of British holidaymakers could see their Easter travel plans thrown into turmoil as flights continue to be cancelled due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Travel experts and government officials have warned the fallout from the deteriorating security situation in the region, which has seen thousands of flights to and from the Middle East cancelled in the past week, is likely to last several weeks or even months.

The soaring cost of jet fuel as well as a scramble to find seats on surviving flights is also likely to lead to rising seat prices in the coming weeks. According to the latest figures as of 6 March, European jet fuel had jumped from $830 (£619) per tonne to $1,500 (£1,118) – an 81 per cent increase.

Thousands of Britons stranded in popular destinations such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi have been struggling to find alternative routes home after airspace over Qatar and Bahrain was closed due to the threat from drones and missiles.

Meanwhile, more than 60 flights to and from Cyprus were cancelled this week, after a suspected Iranian drone hit RAF Akrotiri, although flights resumed into and across the weekend.

Hotels in Cyprus said they’d seen around a 10 per cent fall in bookings due to cancellations as a result of the conflict.

Nick Aristou, commercial director of Muskita Hotels, which owns three hotels in Cyprus, said they’d had around 200 cancellations in the last week.

“Most of the cancellations, I would say about 90 per cent, are all for March, about 10 per cent for April,” he said.

“If this blows over in a week or two weeks, then things will return back to normal pretty quickly. But if it carries on for another month or two months, then the summer will be a disaster.”

While Cyprus is not politically embroiled in the current conflict, the eastern Mediterranean island is now on higher alert than other popular European destinations due to its proximity to the conflict, and presence of the UK base.

There are 125 flights with almost 25,000 seats from the UK to Cyprus over the two Easter holiday weekends from 28 March to 5 April, data from aviation analytics firm Cirium shows.

Panos Kyprianou, business development manager of Thanos Hotels, which owns four hotels on the island, said cancellations were mainly for last-minute bookings in March.

Most were from British travellers, he said, with 450-room nights – about 65 bookings – cancelled for April so far.

“Right now, April, is about 10 per cent behind what it was last year,” he said.

“I think we would be able to evaluate better in about 10 days, when people are actually going to start really thinking about getting on the plane.”

Jet fuel shortage to bring further cancellations

Tanker traffic has largely come to a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint which sees approximately 20 per cent of the world’s oil and gas pass through, causing jet fuel prices to surge by around 80 per cent to their highest in four years. The Gulf accounts for as much as 50 per cent of Europe’s jet fuel.

James Noel-Beswick, head of commodities at the market intelligence firm Sparta Commodities, told The i Paper that holidaymakers could expect to see cancellations or delays due to a lack of jet fuel in weeks rather than months.

“If it goes on beyond, let’s say three or four weeks, then that picture for European holiday costs really rapidly changes,” he told The i Paper.

“It’s really a situation that is weeks, more than months, away.

“Typically, fuel makes up 20 to 30 per cent of airline operating costs, and therefore their prices.”

He added recent fuel price surges could lead to “a 30, 40, 50 per cent addition” to the cost of airline seats.

The UK Government has warned the Iran crisis is expected to last for weeks or possibly months, causing lasting travel disruption worldwide.

Julia Lo Bue-Said, CEO of the Advantage Travel Partnership, one of the UK’s largest group of travel agents, said the disruption was the worst since the 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano caused unprecedented European airspace closures.

“It brings back awful memories from Covid,” she added, but said it is to early to fully predict the impact on the Easter holidays.

Australia and other long haul flights also affected

British travellers heading to Australia or South East Asia are also facing price rises of hundreds of pounds over Easter due to airport closures across the Gulf.

Flights between Australia, Asia and the UK usually stop in the Middle East, but face disruption with Doha airport remaining largely closed as the conflict rages.

Only a selected number of flights arriving in Doha will be permitted to land on 9 March.

A limited number of flights on Etihad and Emirates are running from Abu Dhabi and Dubai to the UK.

Flights transiting through Dubai will only be accepted if the connecting flight is operating as planned.

John Grant, an analyst at the aviation data company Official Airline Guide, said: “A lot of people will have already booked for Easter, so there are very few alternate options available to travel from the UK, or indeed Europe to Australia at this moment in time. And that’s pushing fares up.

“It’s not just Australia. It’s the whole of South and South East Asia. If you want to go, then you’ve got to find an alternative way to get there.

“It’s certainly going to be putting them up by 20 per cent and more, I suggest.”

Britons struggling to return home

After last weekend’s US-Israeli strikes on Iran, Tehran attacked tourist destinations Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, among other places in the Middle East, including Israel.

More than 160,000 UK citizens in the region have registered with the Foreign Office as of Sunday, with the Government’s delayed first chartered plane to evacuate British nationals landing in the early hours of Friday morning.

Overall, two chartered flights have now returned to the UK but the Government announced that another commercial charter plane will depart from Dubai next week.

Meanwhile, MPs warned of “exorbitant” prices being charged by airlines to bring British nationals home.

Middle East minister, Hamish Falconer, told the Commons this week: “There are going to be a considerable number of British nationals who will be so understandably frustrated, anxious, worried about the costs they are accruing both in the region and the opportunity cost to for them not being back in the UK as expected.

“We will do everything we can do get people back as swiftly and safety as possible.”

Most travel insurance policies have an exclusion relating to war, meaning any claim that occurs because of such an event is excluded, the British Insurers Brokers Association said.

Melanie Williams, 46, from Hertfordshire, flew out to Dubai with her daughter Hollie on 26 February to celebrate Hollie’s 22nd birthday.

But the celebrations turned sour when the pair woke up last Sunday to find the hotel down the road being hit by falling debris from drone strikes.

Ms Williams said: “It was extremely scary; there were noisy fighter jets flying over and missiles being intercepted. We broke down a few times that day.”

Six days after they were due to leave, the mother and daughter are having to fork out £700 a night to extend their stay in the Rixos on the Palm hotel, in the Palm Jumeirah area. Melanie originally paid £1,500 for five nights.

She said: “On Sunday we were told by hotel management that we would need to pay £1,400 for the next two nights – this was significantly more than what we paid per night on our initial booking.

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“Despite reports, the Dubai authorities aren’t covering accommodation costs like they are in Abu Dhabi. These prices are very high and there is no sympathy around this being completely out of our control.”

Her travel insurer said it will only cover up to the cost of £2,000 and with no idea when they will be flying home, she is concerned she will be left thousands of pounds out of pocket.

She added: “It’s getting very, very expensive for us. While it seems business as usual out here, we are still scared and just want to get home to our loved ones.”

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