UAE air traffic operations return to normal after temporary closure

ABU DHABI –  Air traffic in the United Arab Emirates returned to normal after temporary precautionary measures were lifted, state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday, citing the country’s General Civil Aviation Authority.

Earlier on Tuesday, the authority announced a temporary closure of the country’s airspace amid rapidly evolving regional security developments, after the defence ministry said it was responding to incoming missile and drone threats from Iran.

On Monday, operations at the United Arab Emirates’ Shah gas field have been suspended while damage is being assessed following a drone attack, Abu Dhabi’s media office said.

Authorities contained and brought the fire caused by the attack under control, the media office added in a post on X, reiterating that no injured have been reported.

The Shah field is one of the world’s largest of its kind and is located 180 kilometres southwest of Abu Dhabi.

The United Arab Emirates’ daily oil output is down by more than half as the Iran conflict and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz forced state oil giant ADNOC to implement widespread production shut-ins, two sources said.

Oil loading operations at the UAE’s port of Fujairah, a key export terminal, were suspended twice in recent days following separate drone attack incidents. Some oil loading at the hub restarted, two sources said.