Flights between the UK and United Arab Emirates: what a delay is worth
Every route the CAA tracks between the UK and United Arab Emirates falls in the same distance band (Over 3,500 km), so a delay of 3 hours or more pays a flat £520 per passenger under UK261 if the flight left the UK (€600 under EU261 if it left United Arab Emirates instead and the airline was a UK or EU carrier). Find your route below.
| Route | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|
| Heathrow → Dubai | £520 |
| Heathrow → Abu Dhabi International | £520 |
| Gatwick → Dubai | £520 |
| Manchester → Dubai | £520 |
| Manchester → Abu Dhabi International | £520 |
| Birmingham → Dubai | £520 |
| Stansted → Dubai | £520 |
| Glasgow → Dubai | £520 |
| Newcastle → Dubai | £520 |
| Edinburgh → Dubai | £520 |
All 10 tracked UK ↔ United Arab Emirates routes, sorted by yearly flight volume. Figures are per passenger under UK261; EU261 pays €600 for the same band.
In the last 12 months, 18,992 flights operated between the UK and United Arab Emirates: 70.6% ran within 15 minutes of schedule, and 0.4% were 3 or more hours late, roughly 76 flights' worth of eligible passengers in a year. The CAA's figures don't separate arrivals from departures, so this covers the route both ways.
Punctuality is down on last year: 70.6% of flights ran on time against 72.7% in the twelve months before, and the average delay rose from 13.5 to 14.3 minutes.
Flights (12mo)
18,992
On time
70.6%
▼ 2.1pts vs last year
Avg delay
14.3 min
▲ 0.8 min vs last year
3h+ delayed
0.4%
Cancelled
4.0%
United Arab Emirates, month by month
Worst month: March 2026, averaging 40.4 minutes.
Busiest routes between the UK and United Arab Emirates
| UK airport | Destination | 3h+ delay pays |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | Dubai | £520 |
| Heathrow | Abu Dhabi International | £520 |
| Gatwick | Dubai | £520 |
| Manchester | Dubai | £520 |
| Manchester | Abu Dhabi International | £520 |
| Birmingham | Dubai | £520 |
| Stansted | Dubai | £520 |
| Glasgow | Dubai | £520 |
| Newcastle | Dubai | £520 |
| Edinburgh | Dubai | £520 |
UK airports flying to United Arab Emirates
| Airport | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 0.3% | 72.1% |
| Manchester | 0.7% | 62.0% |
| Gatwick | 0.3% | 71.2% |
| Birmingham | 0.3% | 71.7% |
| Stansted | 0.1% | 78.1% |
| Glasgow | 0.1% | 69.8% |
| Newcastle | 0.5% | 73.1% |
| Edinburgh | 0.4% | 76.5% |
Airlines flying between the UK and United Arab Emirates
| Airline | 3h+ % | On-time % |
|---|---|---|
| Emirates | 0.4% | 69.8% |
| Etihad Airways | 0.3% | 69.8% |
| British Airways | 0.2% | 77.3% |
| Virgin Atlantic | 0.8% | 77.6% |
Your rights on this route
Every flight leaving the UK for United Arab Emirates is covered by UK261, whichever airline operates it. Flights the other way, landing in the UK from United Arab Emirates, are covered too if a UK or EU airline operated them; a return flight on a non-UK, non-EU carrier falls outside UK261, though the Montreal Convention and United Arab Emirates's own rules may still give you a claim. See the full breakdown on the 3-hour rule. Cancelled instead of delayed? Broadly the same amounts apply under different conditions. See cancelled flight compensation.
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Source: UK Civil Aviation Authority punctuality statistics, July 2025 to June 2026. Analysis by CheckFlightCompensation; the CAA is credited as the data source as its publication conditions require. Figures cover the 25 largest UK airports.