Following a week-long spate of US-Israeli strikes on Iranian targets that triggered widespread air-space closures, Chinese carriers have begun restoring selected Middle-East routes. Industry tracker VariFlight told the Global Times that on 5 March Air China flight CA789 departed Beijing Capital for Riyadh – the first Chinese-operated passenger flight to Saudi Arabia since services were halted on 28 February.
According to Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) notices, Air China will operate daily Beijing–Riyadh flights on 5-7 March and a Beijing–Dubai rotation on 6-8 March to address passenger backlogs. Hainan Airlines has already completed two Haikou–Jeddah rescue round-trips, while China Eastern has applied for a one-off Beijing Daxing–Muscat service. China Southern plans a Guangzhou–Riyadh extra section on 6 March to repatriate stranded crew.
![Chinese airlines cautiously resume Middle-East services after conflict-related suspension]()
The measured restart follows joint risk assessments between carriers, insurers and foreign-ministry crisis units. Load factors are expected to be skewed towards diaspora travellers and essential staff of energy, construction and logistics firms that maintain large workforces in the Gulf. Travel-risk consultants are advising multinationals to keep minimum-presence staffing models in place until regular schedules stabilise and war-risk surcharges normalise – currently up to US$700 per segment on some routes.
Amid such volatility, travellers wrestling with rapidly changing Gulf entry rules can lean on specialists like VisaHQ, which keeps real-time visa guidance and offers expedited processing through its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/). The service helps both individual passengers and corporate mobility teams secure the correct documents even when airlines revise schedules at the last minute.
While the immediate priority is evacuation and crew rotation, airlines say the episode underscores the need for more diversified hub options. Several have asked CAAC to fast-track approvals for alternate routings via Central Asia and North Africa so that China-bound traffic can be rerouted quickly in future crises. For corporate travel teams, the episode has reinforced the value of built-in redundancy: companies that had pre-approved alternative gateways such as Doha or Istanbul were able to re-accommodate staff within 48 hours, whereas those relying solely on point-to-point flights faced longer delays.
According to Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) notices, Air China will operate daily Beijing–Riyadh flights on 5-7 March and a Beijing–Dubai rotation on 6-8 March to address passenger backlogs. Hainan Airlines has already completed two Haikou–Jeddah rescue round-trips, while China Eastern has applied for a one-off Beijing Daxing–Muscat service. China Southern plans a Guangzhou–Riyadh extra section on 6 March to repatriate stranded crew.
The measured restart follows joint risk assessments between carriers, insurers and foreign-ministry crisis units. Load factors are expected to be skewed towards diaspora travellers and essential staff of energy, construction and logistics firms that maintain large workforces in the Gulf. Travel-risk consultants are advising multinationals to keep minimum-presence staffing models in place until regular schedules stabilise and war-risk surcharges normalise – currently up to US$700 per segment on some routes.
Amid such volatility, travellers wrestling with rapidly changing Gulf entry rules can lean on specialists like VisaHQ, which keeps real-time visa guidance and offers expedited processing through its China portal (https://www.visahq.com/china/). The service helps both individual passengers and corporate mobility teams secure the correct documents even when airlines revise schedules at the last minute.
While the immediate priority is evacuation and crew rotation, airlines say the episode underscores the need for more diversified hub options. Several have asked CAAC to fast-track approvals for alternate routings via Central Asia and North Africa so that China-bound traffic can be rerouted quickly in future crises. For corporate travel teams, the episode has reinforced the value of built-in redundancy: companies that had pre-approved alternative gateways such as Doha or Istanbul were able to re-accommodate staff within 48 hours, whereas those relying solely on point-to-point flights faced longer delays.
