Flight corridor in the Middle East arranged by the UAE, but experts believe there could be traffic congestion
發佈日期: 2026-03-05 21:29
TVB News
Some Hongkongers previously stranded in the Middle East are slowly making their way back to the city, with the second batch of residents expected to land at the Hong Kong International Airport via an Emirates flight tonight.
The aviation sector said their return was facilitated by the flight corridor arranged by the United Arab Emirates,
but noted other airlines are still assessing the flight risk in Middle Eastern airspace.
After being stranded in Dubai for four days and having experienced multiple ticket cancellations,
Hong Kong resident Boyi successfully purchased an Emirates economy flight ticket and is expected to return to the city at around 10 p.m. today.
She said she feels relieved after completing her check-in procedures, adding that she misses her cats waiting for her back home.
Boyi believes she will avoid the Middle East for the time being and will consider taking direct flights if planning a trip to Europe in the future.
Aboard the same flight will be 20 people travelling with tourism agency WWPKG and another 22 travelling with Wing On Travel.
Since the start of the Iran conflict, several Middle Eastern countries have closed their airspace, posing a major challenge to the global aviation sector.
But the United Arab Emirates has arranged a special flight corridor permitting flights to travel southward.
The passage currently allows a maximum of around 40 flights per hour.
Using a return flight from Dubai to Hong Kong as an example, the flight will initially travel towards the northeast and above the Gulf of Oman, before heading to the Arabian Sea and over India.
With pilots opting for this route needing to fly an extra 200 kilometres, not all airlines are comfortable with this alternative.
Right now there's a huge capacity issue because we cannot use the Russian airspace due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
So, a lot of the long-range flights especially between Asia and Europe are flying through a very narrow corridor between Afghanistan and Turkey and onwards to their destination.
So, everybody's using the same airways or the invisible highways for aircraft in the sky.
That becomes very congested, on top of that, Afghani airspace is uncontrolled.
What does that mean, that means they don't have air traffic control.
Most importantly, we have the GPS jamming, which interferes with the aircraft navigation system.
Regarding the resumption of Cathay Pacific flights to Riyadh and Dubai the city's flagship carrier said the suspension will last until at least the 14th of this month.
