Dubai | Airport Coordination Limited

ACL Update on the Middle East Conflict

20/05/26

20th May 2026

Operations in the Middle East remain disrupted and the associated impacts on fuel remain uncertain.

ACL published Guidance on Military action and related airspace restrictions over the Middle East and Gulf Region. see here for the latest version (9).

For UK Airports:

The UK Government has amended the UK Slot Regulation to provide additional alleviation during NS26 and NS26. Additional guidance related to this provision can be found here.

For Dubai Airports:

The schedule has been deleted until 2^nd August. Capacity continues to be extremely limited. Manual slot coordination is in effect. Airlines are requested to submit requirements to ACL at slots@acl-international.com or via OCS

For Abu Dhabi:

Airlines should follow Temporary Scheduling Process as communicated by the airport.

For Oman:

In Muscat, all ad hoc and repatriation flights must have their slots obtained through the handling agent (Transom).
Duqm, Suhar and Salalah are operating as normal.

For Saudi Arabia airports:

The airspace remains open and commercial flight operations continue. For repatriation flight requests, additional approval from the Saudi authorities is required before slots will be confirmed.
There are adjusted day-to-day processes now in place across certain Saudi Airports for the coordination of short-notice ad-hoc flights as follows:
Al-Ahsa (HOF), Al-Qaisumah (AQI), Damman (DMM): All slot requests for non-based carriers should be submitted in linked Arr-Dep SCR format. Unlinked (Arr only or Dep only) slot requests will be rejected, Some requests may require a referral to the airport and may take longer than usual to respond.
All other Saudi Airports continue with their normal day-to-day processes.

Please contact the applicable ACL team for more information.

Middle East airport flight cancellations running at 35% for May

06/05/26

Leading airport slot manager, Airport Coordination Limited, says 35% of take-off and landing slots during May have been cancelled across the 30 Middle East airports it serves in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia and Oman.

This is down on the 54% cancellation rates experienced in through March and April with services at United Arab Emirates airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi most impacted by the US-Israel war on Iran.

CEO Neil Garwood says: “May already shows 35% of slots cancelled although the actual outcome will be dependent on events.

“The airports furthest from Iran, such as those in western Saudia Arabia, are less affected.”

ACL manages slots at 80 airports in the Middle East, United Kingdom, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

Garwood says the conflict has caused significant collateral damage in all these markets with surging jet fuel prices and limited supply prompting airlines to raise airfares and cut flights.

“We’ve been tracking airports across 11 countries since the start of hostilities that have experienced varying degrees of disturbance,” Garwood says.

At Sydney Airport, where ACL manages the slots, cancellations for flights to and from the Middle East were 60% in March, increasing to 67% during April.

For May, Middle East slot cancellations at Sydney are currently 32%, a number that may increase during the month.

At London’s Heathrow Airport, where ACL also manages the slots, air transport movements to and from the Middle East fell 47% during March while passenger numbers for the month slumped 51% over the previous year according to airport data.

Middle East slot cancellations at Heathrow during May are, like Sydney, at 32%.

ACL’s Garwood says communication between airlines and the slot manager is crucial during a fast-moving crisis.

“Operators want early clarity around whether their future slot allocation will be protected if they cancel to help with planning and route workarounds,” he says.

“ACL issued tailored guidance to assist airlines with how they could respond to the events within the rules and regulations of each jurisdiction and worked with industry bodies to harmonise this where possible.

“We’ve seen airlines be agile about recycling slots for different purposes. For example, avoiding the Middle East region and putting extra flights on routes as demand patterns change.”

As fighting in Iran and Lebanon has subsided, Garwood says the focus is now on fuel supply and its impact on cancellations.

S24 SAL Distribution

03/11/23

All S24 SAL’s have been issued. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

ACL Airports’ World Cup Flight Statistics

22/11/22

Airport Coordination Limited (ACL) coordinate 72 airports worldwide, including 26 UK and Republic of Ireland airports and 35 airports in the Middle East. With all eyes on Qatar for the FIFA World Cup, the region has looked to their Middle-eastern partners to support getting the 1.2 million fans from across the world into the country. Nine of ACL’s Middle-Eastern Airports are supporting this venture.

Here we share our infographic of the passenger flight statistics so far…

Click here for larger PDF view

Did you know?
ACL have a long history of coordinating major international sporting and political events. To find out more, and discover how we can help your airport manage extreme demand, visit our Special Events page – Special Events Coordination

Did you know?
ACL hold all the flight data for slot schedules at our 72 airports, worldwide. Businesses can use this data to support their own planning, operations and analysis. If you would like to know more about our data and get in touch, visit our Data Services page – Data Services

Data analysis by Airport Coordinator, Oliver Thompson. Imagery by Denise Wakeford, Sales and Marketing Lead.

S23 SHLs for ACL Airports

12/09/22

All S23 SHLs for ACL airports have now been distributed. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

W22 SAL distribution

10/06/22

UPDATE 16th June:
All W22 SAL’s have now been issued, including Heathrow which was sent on 16 June 2022.

All W22 SAL’s with the exception of London Heathrow have been issued. Due to a legal challenge involving slots at London Heathrow, we have had to delay the issuance of all SALs at London Heathrow pending legal advice. We will provide a further update no later than Friday 17^th June, if the SAL’s have not been distributed by then.

For all our other airports please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

W22 SHLs Distributed

25/04/22

All W22 SHLs for ACL airports have now been distributed. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

S22 SALs for ACL Airports

05/11/21

All S22 SALs for ACL airports have now been distributed. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

W21 SALs for ACL Airports

04/06/21

All W21 SALs for ACL airports have now been distributed. Please contact the coordinator if you have not received the message for a particular airport.

ACL announce new CEO

12/01/21

Airport Coordination Limited would like to inform you that, following a thorough search and rigorous selection process, the Board of Airport Coordination Limited is pleased to announce the appointment of Neil Garwood as our new Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Neil was formerly Managing Director of Southampton Airport, where he had been for ten years, having risen through the ranks after initially joining them as Terminal Operations Manager in 2010.

Neil will succeed Airport Coordination Limited’s departing CEO, Edmond Rose, who is moving on from his role at the end of February. The ACL Board thank Edmond for his outstanding contributions and leadership throughout his time with us and especially through the challenges of this last year.

The Chair of ACL, Lesley Cowley said “I am delighted to welcome Neil to ACL. Whilst our current CEO will be much missed, we are confident that Neil’s experience, drive and values make him an ideal successor to lead ACL as we emerge from the pandemic”.

The new CEO, Neil Garwood said “I am excited to be joining the world’s leading independent airport coordination organisation at a time of seismic change in the industry and very much look forward to continuing to deliver on ACL’s ambition of world class coordination excellence for our customers and stakeholders”.