Algeria’s Airspace Ban: Which UAE Airlines Are Affected

Last updated: Sep 15, 2026

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Is your flight affected by the Algeria ban?
Questions
Sources

Is your flight affected by the Algeria ban?

Airline registrations, plus published schedules from Wego, sampled 15 September 2026. Flight times are filed block times, not measured flying time. No fares are quoted here.

The airline you are flying

ReroutedRegistrationUnited Arab Emirates. The ban is written around where an aircraft is registered, so it covers the whole Emirates fleet.Routes affectedDubai to Casablanca and Dubai to Lisbon, now routing north over Egypt, Greece and Italy. Dubai to Algiers has not operated since March 2026.Scheduled timeNo change to the timetable. EK 751 to Casablanca is filed at 8h10 and EK 191 to Lisbon at 8h20, the same either side of the ban.What to doNothing has been cancelled and your booking does not change on its own. Expect the scheduled arrival to hold, and reconfirm a tight onward connection.

ReroutedRegistrationUnited Arab Emirates, so every Etihad aircraft is covered by the ban.Routes affectedAbu Dhabi to Casablanca and Abu Dhabi to Lisbon, plus the seasonal Abu Dhabi to Malaga service, all now routing north through European airspace.Scheduled timeNo change to the timetable. EY 757 to Casablanca stays at 8h15 and EY 107 to Malaga at 7h35, unbroken across the ban date.What to doNothing has been cancelled. Expect the scheduled arrival to hold, and check the Malaga service is running at all before you plan around it.

No changeRegistrationSharjah-based Air Arabia is UAE-registered, so the ban covers it. Air Arabia Maroc is a separate Moroccan-registered airline based in Casablanca, and the ban never reached it.Routes affectedNone. Air Arabia flies no further west than London, so nothing in its network crossed Algeria. It has no nonstop service to Morocco.What to doNothing. If you are flying Air Arabia Maroc inside Morocco or on to Europe, that is a Moroccan airline and it is unaffected too.

No changeRegistrationUnited Arab Emirates, so the ban covers flydubai on paper.Routes affectedNone. flydubai does not serve Morocco, Spain or Portugal, and nothing in its network needed to cross Algeria.What to doNothing. Being a UAE carrier does not mean your flight is affected, because the ban only bites where a route crossed Algeria.

No changeRegistrationMorocco. The ban reaches UAE-registered aircraft only, so Moroccan ones cross Algeria as before.Routes affectedNone. Its Dubai to Casablanca service returned in July 2026 and runs three times a week on a Boeing 787-8.Scheduled timeNo change, and no advantage either. AT 247 is filed at 8h25, which is slower than the Emirates flight that is detouring.What to doDo not switch to it purely to dodge the detour. Pick it for the schedule or the cabin, because on time it does not win.

No changeRegistrationAlgeria. The country has not restricted its own carrier, and the ban does not apply to it.What to doCheck its own schedule for UAE services directly. No UAE airline has flown to Algeria since March 2026.

Track your flight

The detour is absorbed into the published schedule, but real delays still happen for other reasons. Check your flight’s live status on the Wego flight tracker before you travel.

Live flight status Emirates flights Etihad flights Air Arabia flights flydubai flights Royal Air Maroc flights Air Algerie flights

Algeria closed its airspace to every UAE-registered aircraft on 11 September, after cutting diplomatic ties with the Emirates. Only Emirates and Etihad fly routes that crossed it. No timetable has changed.

Questions

Which airlines are affected by Algeria’s airspace ban?

Only Emirates and Etihad Airways. They are the two UAE-registered carriers with routes that crossed Algerian airspace. Air Arabia and flydubai are covered by the ban but fly nothing that needed Algeria, so nothing changes for them. Airlines registered anywhere else, including Royal Air Maroc, Air Arabia Maroc and Air Algerie, were never in scope.

Does the ban change how long my flight takes?

Not according to the timetable. Every affected service is filed at the same block time in the weeks either side of 11 September, because airlines build slack into published schedules and absorb a detour into it. The aircraft is in the air longer, but the arrival time you booked is the arrival time that stands.

Can I still fly between the UAE and Algeria?

Not on a UAE airline. Emirates last flew Dubai to Algiers in March 2026 and no UAE carrier serves the country now. Algeria did write an exemption for commercial flights to and from Algiers that runs until 31 December 2026, but there is no UAE service using it, so any trip means connecting on another airline.

Will a longer routing make my flight arrive late?

Usually not. Airlines normally absorb a detour into the block time already published, so the scheduled arrival holds and only the time in the air changes. Watch for a schedule change email if you are booked on an affected route, and reconfirm any onward connection with a short layover.

How long will the ban last?

No end date has been given. The exemption covering Algiers expires on 31 December 2026, so the position could change at the turn of the year. Algeria has not named a single incident behind the diplomatic break, citing a pattern of conduct instead, which makes it hard to predict how quickly the two sides settle it.

Sources

Al Jazeera, Algeria cutting diplomatic ties with the UAE, retrieved 15 September 2026.
AeroTime, the airspace closed to UAE-registered aircraft from 11 September, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Euronews, the Algiers exemption running to 31 December 2026, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Aviation A2Z, Emirates and Etihad rerouting north over Egypt, Greece and Italy, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Travel Tomorrow, Emirates’ last Dubai to Algiers flight in March 2026, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Air Arabia, its Moroccan company as a separate carrier based in Casablanca, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Wego Travel Blog, Royal Air Maroc’s Dubai to Casablanca schedule and aircraft.
FlightConnections, flydubai’s route map, retrieved 15 September 2026.
Wego search, filed block times and operating days for every route named here, sampled 15 September 2026.

How this page was put together

The airlines listed are the UAE-registered carriers with scheduled routes that crossed or skirted Algerian airspace, plus the non-UAE carriers serving the same city pairs. Carriers with no exposure either way are left off rather than listed as unaffected.
No airline has published a figure for the extra flying time in the air, and none is estimated here. What is checked instead is the filed block time on each affected route, read from schedule windows that run across 11 September. Every one is unchanged, which is the evidence for saying arrival times hold.
Air Arabia and flydubai were checked for Moroccan and Iberian routes and have none. Air Arabia flies no further west than London, so despite being UAE-registered neither carrier had anything to reroute.
The ban is written against the aircraft register, not against a brand or an owner. Air Arabia Maroc is part-owned by Sharjah-based Air Arabia and is still a Moroccan carrier, which is why the two get opposite answers here.
Schedules are the published ones at the sample date. Seasonal services, including Abu Dhabi to Malaga, do not run year round, so check the route is operating before planning around it.
The Algiers exemption is real but currently unused, because no UAE airline has served Algeria since March 2026. It is included for completeness rather than as a route you can book.

Disclaimer: We’ve worked hard to make sure the information in this article is as accurate and up to date as possible at the time of publishing. Travel details such as prices, schedules, visa rules, and entry requirements can change at short notice, so it remains your responsibility to verify the current details with official sources before you book or travel. Wego accepts no liability for any loss or inconvenience arising from the use of this content.