Bahrain finally resumes flights after weeks of airspace closure amid Middle East conflict

Flights have resumed at Bahrain airport after pausing for weeks due to a mandated closure of its airspace amid the Middle Eastern conflict.

Bahrain International Airport announced on Wednesday, 8 April, that it will be gradually resuming flights after the government reopened its airspace.

The international airport has asked passengers to check with their airlines for the latest updates and only head to the airport if they have a confirmed flight.

Gulf Air, the country’s flag carrier, confirmed that it will be gradually restarting its flight schedule at Bahrain’s airport.

Over the past month, Gulf Air was temporarily operating to and from Bahrain via King Fahd International airport in Dammam, Saudi Arabia.

The airline set up a shuttle service for passengers from Bahrain over the Saudi border to Dammam airport, to then fly passengers to their final destination.

The King Fahd Causeway that connects the two countries was temporarily shut on Tuesday as a precautionary measure, but reopened hours later. The UK’s Foreign Office said the causeway may be subject to further closures at short notice.

While operations resume in Bahrain, Gulf Air said its service via Dammam’s airport will continue for the time being.

The airline said that passengers can now book flights directly from Bahrain, but it is still offering full refunds to ticket holders for flights up until 15 April, or they can rebook for a later date.

Bahrain airport’s website currently only shows arrivals and departures from Saudi Arabia. Damman’s airport is still running Gulf Air flights to London Heathrow.

This comes a day after the United States and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire following weeks of air strikes across the Middle East, including in Bahrain.

Two people were killed in two ​separate Iranian attacks, with the most recent hitting a residential building in the capital Manama, according to Bahrain’s interior ministry, while the UAE's defence ministry said that one of its civilian contractors was killed in an ⁠Iranian attack on Bahrain.

The air strikes have caused widespread travel chaos, with airspaces shutting down and causing flight cancellations and delays.

Bahrain decided to temporarily shut its airspace on 28 February, the same day that the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, killing the country’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.

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