With the situation in the entire Middle East remaining highly volatile due to the war in Iran, most global airlines are continuing to push back the restart date of routes to hub cities such as Dubai and Doha.
British Airways recently confirmed that its route between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi will not restart “until later this year” while carriers such as Lufthansa and KLM are also not running their usual routes to cities such as Dubai, Amman, Oman, and Riyadh until October at the earliest.
Delta Air Lines has also earlier this month extended the suspension of its route between Atlanta and Tel Aviv until November 2026 while hoping to restart service from JFK by September “due to the security situation impacting […] travel to, from, or through the destination.”
American Airlines delays restart of flights to Doha and Tel Aviv, drop Bridgeton route
The latest airline to confirm one cancelation and two extended suspensions is American Airlines. The Dallas-based airline has, as first reported by Aviation A2Z, will further delay the restart of its routes between Philadelphia International (PHL) and Hamad Internatinoal (DOH) in Doha and New York’s JFK and Tel Aviv International (TLV) until at least 2027.
The Doha route was suspended in March 2026 after the U.S.-Israeli strike on Iran and was pushed back multiple times after the attack threw the region into a full-scale war while the Tel Aviv one has not operated since October 2023 following the Hamas attack on Israel. It was set to restart in September 2026 also after multiple attempts and delays around doing so.
While almost all travelers who booked travel on those routes have by now been contacted and mostly chosen to use their refund or rebooking option, anyone who retained or kept pushing back an original booking is still able to arrange compensation.
”American Airlines has implemented a special exception policy to our travel partners that is now available for our mutual customers due Middle East Unrest,” the airline has stated on its website since the first suspension.
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American Airlines quietly cuts Barbados flight launched two years ago
American Airlines is also canceling its seasonal route between JFK to Grantley Adams International Airport (BGI) in Barbados. The flight launched for the winter sun-seeking season in November 2024 but is no longer available for booking online for the coming season.
This route cut also comes as multiple airlines are reworking their networks to minimize low-traffic routes given the cost of jet fuel that has skyrocketed since the start of the war.
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Although American Airlines is now no longer offering public restart schedules for the Middle Eastern flights due to widespread uncertainty, some online aviation analysts like Jon NYC have suggested that it is internally flagging January 2027 for the earlier restart for Doha and Tel Aviv.
“We will proactively reach out to impacted customers of this schedule adjustment, offering options in line with our customer-friendly schedule change policy,” the airline said in its statement.
The carrier currently serving these cities from the U.S. are primarily local national airlines on a limited schedule subject to change at the last minute.
