Section
World
Foreign affairs and the Indian Ocean neighbourhood.
Saturday, 2 May 2026
UAE reopens its airspace, restoring the Maldives' Gulf corridor
Nine weeks of route diversions, slot caps and cancelled rotations end with a single GCAA notice. Emirates, flydubai and Etihad can rebuild the full UAE–Malé schedule — and a tourism economy that runs on Gulf-hub connectivity gets its corridor back.