The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has issued a fresh Conflict Zone Information Bulletin advising airlines to avoid operating through the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and parts of Oman, citing elevated security risks linked to continuing geopolitical tensions in the Gulf region.

The advisory was issued on July 14, 2026, and is scheduled to remain in force until July 29, 2026, unless it is reviewed, amended or withdrawn earlier. The guidance applies to airlines and operators subject to European Union aviation safety regulations, as well as third-country carriers authorised by EASA to operate flights to, from and within the European Union.

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The latest bulletin represents another significant development for the aviation sector, as airlines continue to balance operational efficiency with growing security concerns across one of the world’s busiest international aviation corridors.

Extensive airspace included in the advisory

According to EASA, the advisory covers all altitudes and flight levels within the Bahrain Flight Information Region, Kuwait Flight Information Region, Doha Flight Information Region and the Emirates Flight Information Region. It also extends to airspace over the waters of the Gulf of Oman within the Muscat Flight Information Region, west of longitude 58 degrees east.

The agency has recommended that affected airlines refrain from operating within the specified airspace while the bulletin remains active.

The guidance is intended to assist operators in assessing operational risk and making informed flight planning decisions as regional security conditions continue to evolve.

Military developments drive security concerns

EASA said the latest advisory follows continuing instability associated with the military conflict between the United States and Iran.

According to the bulletin, a temporary ceasefire was initially announced on April 8, 2026, and remained in effect until June 17, when both sides signed a Memorandum of Understanding extending the arrangement for a further 60 days.

However, the agency said the agreement has been affected by repeated and significant violations, resulting in renewed security concerns across the Gulf region.

EASA highlighted Iran’s efforts to maintain control over the Strait of Hormuz, recurring attacks against commercial vessels and ongoing military activity involving the US as key factors contributing to the elevated threat environment. It added that these developments have the potential to affect the airspace of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, as well as areas over the Gulf of Oman.

Airlines urged to monitor situation closely

The Strait of Hormuz and the surrounding Gulf waters remain among the world’s most strategically important maritime corridors, serving as a critical route for global energy supplies and international trade. Any escalation in the region has the potential to affect maritime transport, commercial aviation and wider regional air traffic management.

Regional aviation authorities have introduced temporary airspace closures and operational restrictions at various stages of the conflict, underscoring the rapidly changing nature of the security environment.

Against that backdrop, EASA has urged airlines to closely monitor developments and review all relevant aeronautical publications concerning the region. These include notices and operational guidance issued by the aviation authorities of the affected countries, neighbouring states and the Sultanate of Oman.

Operators have also been advised to follow information shared through the European Information Sharing and Cooperation Platform on Conflict Zones, alongside instructions issued by their respective national aviation authorities.

Operational impact could extend beyond Europe

Although the advisory directly applies to EASA-regulated operators and certain third-country carriers, it is expected to be closely assessed by airlines worldwide as they evaluate operational risk and route planning across the Gulf.

Avoiding the affected airspace could require airlines to adopt longer alternative flight paths, depending on departure points, destinations and the availability of suitable routing options. Such adjustments may increase flight times, fuel consumption and operating costs, while also affecting aircraft scheduling and network efficiency.

Industry observers note that prolonged airspace restrictions can have wider commercial implications for airlines, particularly on long-haul services connecting Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

Passenger services may be affected

For passengers, the advisory does not automatically mean that flights to and from Gulf destinations will be suspended. Instead, flight operations will continue to depend on decisions taken by individual airlines, national aviation authorities and air navigation service providers following their own operational and safety assessments.

However, travellers could experience schedule changes, delays or rerouted flights as airlines implement precautionary measures to minimise operational risk while maintaining service continuity.

EASA said it will continue monitoring the situation in coordination with the European Commission and EU member states, assessing whether the level of risk facing European airlines increases or decreases as military and political developments unfold.

The agency added that the bulletin may be revised, extended or withdrawn before its current expiry date should conditions on the ground change.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, is celebrating his 77th birthday today, marking another milestone in a leadership journey that has reshaped Dubai into one of the world’s most competitive business and investment destinations.

Born on July 15, 1949, Sheikh Mohammed has led Dubai since January 2006, overseeing an era of rapid economic diversification, infrastructure expansion and government transformation that has positioned the emirate as a global centre for commerce, aviation, logistics, tourism, finance and technology.

Under his leadership, Dubai has launched a series of long-term economic and urban development strategies aimed at sustaining growth beyond hydrocarbons. These include initiatives focused on attracting foreign direct investment, nurturing entrepreneurship, advancing digital government, strengthening artificial intelligence capabilities and expanding the emirate’s position as a global financial hub.

His vision has also underpinned the development of landmark projects and institutions that have elevated Dubai’s international profile, from world-class transport infrastructure and aviation networks to free zones, financial centres and tourism assets that continue to attract multinational companies and investors from around the globe.

For the business community, Sheikh Mohammed’s emphasis on innovation, competitiveness and long-term planning has helped create an ecosystem that consistently ranks among the region’s most attractive destinations for investment and talent. His government has championed regulatory reforms, digital transformation and public-private partnerships as key pillars of economic growth.

The birthday has been marked by tributes across the UAE, with organisations and residents celebrating the leader widely credited with transforming Dubai into a global city while continuing to advance ambitious initiatives such as the Dubai 2040 Urban Master Plan and broader national development strategies.

At 77, Sheikh Mohammed remains at the forefront of Dubai’s next phase of growth, with a continued focus on innovation, sustainability, talent attraction and economic resilience as the emirate pursues its long-term ambition of strengthening its position among the world’s leading cities for business and quality of life.

Fitech giant Revolut has received in-principle approval from Dubai’s Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA) for a Virtual Assets Service Provider (VASP) licence, paving the way for the fintech to launch regulated cryptocurrency services in the UAE.

The approval will allow Revolut, subject to final regulatory clearance, to offer broker-dealer, management and investment, and exchange services through its retail app and standalone crypto trading platform, Revolut X.

Eligible customers in the UAE will eventually be able to buy, sell and hold digital assets within a regulated framework.

The latest approval marks another milestone in Revolut’s expansion in the Emirates, where the company has been steadily building its regulatory footprint.

Last month, Revolut received stored value facilities (SVF) and retail payment services (Category II) licences from the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), completing its regulatory authorisation process for payments in the country. The approvals paved the way for the company to launch a suite of digital financial services, including multi-currency accounts, local and international payments, and physical and virtual cards.

Read more: Revolut receives UAE central bank payment licences as it prepares market entry

The company said the latest VARA approval supports its ambition to build a fully regulated financial ecosystem in the UAE, bringing it a step closer to offering both digital banking and regulated virtual asset services under local oversight.

Joseph Khair, head of Revolut Digital Assets FZE, UAE, said the company was looking forward to supporting the country’s vision for the sector.

“The UAE continues to demonstrate global leadership in establishing a robust and transparent framework for virtual assets, and we are proud to align with that vision,” Khair said.

“This approval lays the foundation for Revolut to introduce its trusted virtual asset services within a regulated environment, supporting VARA’s goal of fostering a safe, transparent, and innovation-driven virtual assets ecosystem.”

Growing footprint

Founded in the UK in 2015, Revolut has grown into one of the world’s largest fintech companies, with more than 75 million customers globally. The company says more than 16 million customers use its cryptocurrency services, which are currently available in the UK and the European Economic Area.

Dubai has emerged as one of the world’s leading hubs for digital assets, with VARA establishing a dedicated regulatory framework aimed at attracting global crypto companies while strengthening investor protection and market oversight.

India generated the highest level of overseas online interest in Dubai’s property market over the past three months, highlighting the emirate’s continued appeal among international investors and homebuyers, according to new web traffic data released by fäm Properties.

The analysis, which excludes UAE-based visitors and measures international search traffic to Dubai property listings, found that India accounted for 20.59 per cent of overseas searches, followed by the United Kingdom (13.26 per cent) and Egypt (12.60 per cent).

The United States (8.99 per cent) and Pakistan (6.94 per cent) completed the top five, while Saudi Arabia, Australia, Germany, France and Canada rounded out the ten largest international sources of online interest.

The findings provide an early indication of where buyer demand may be building, although the company stressed that online search activity should not be interpreted as a direct measure of future transactions.

India’s leading position reflects its long-established role as one of Dubai’s largest overseas property investor markets, supported by strong trade links, a sizeable Indian expatriate community in the UAE and sustained demand for international real estate investment and portfolio diversification.

“The online search data that we’ve compiled doesn’t guarantee sales, and should be treated as a directional indicator of potential buyer interest rather than a precise forecast of future transactions,” said Firas Al Msaddi, CEO of fäm Properties.

“But what it does show is where global attention is genuinely concentrated right now. Search behaviour is an early signal, often months ahead of when that interest shows up in official transaction records.

“For a market as internationally driven as Dubai’s, understanding where that demand is building can be just as important as tracking where it’s already landed.”

One notable finding was the absence of China from the top ten despite Chinese investors traditionally being among Dubai’s largest overseas buyer groups.

According to Al Msaddi, this reflects differences in purchasing behaviour rather than weaker demand.

“This should be attributed to a difference in buying behaviour rather than any decline in interest,” he said. “Chinese buyers tend to transact through agent networks, developer relationships, and word-of-mouth referrals rather than independent online research.”

A similar trend was observed among Russian buyers. Although Russia has consistently ranked among the leading nationalities purchasing Dubai property in recent years, it accounted for 2.50 per cent of international search traffic, placing it 12th in the rankings.

The data underscores Dubai’s continued international appeal, with buyer interest spread across established investment markets in Asia, Europe, North America and the Middle East, reflecting the emirate’s position as a global real estate investment destination.

As finance leaders continue to invest in digital transformation, a growing challenge is emerging inside accounts payable (AP): organisations have automated routine invoice processing, but many still struggle when transactions fall outside the standard workflow.

According to Ionut Valentin Sas, SVP finance at UiPath, the future of finance automation will be determined not by how quickly invoices are processed, but by how effectively organisations manage the exceptions that continue to require human intervention.

With the UAE preparing for mandatory e-invoicing and artificial intelligence (AI) becoming increasingly embedded in enterprise finance, Sas believes the next phase of automation will focus on enabling finance teams to resolve complex cases faster while maintaining governance and financial control.

Exception handling remains the missing link

While invoice digitisation and straight-through processing have become standard across many enterprises, Sas argues that automation often breaks down when invoices fail to match purchase orders, require multiple approvals or contain missing information.

“The reality is that processing a standard invoice has become relatively straightforward. The real challenge has always been the exceptions,” he says.

Those exceptions frequently move outside structured workflows into emails and spreadsheets, where finance teams manually investigate issues, coordinate with procurement and suppliers, and seek approvals.

“From a CFO’s perspective, that’s where the cost sits. It’s not the invoices that flow straight through, it’s the minority that consume the majority of the team’s time. The next generation of automation needs to handle those higher-value decisions while ensuring the right governance and human oversight remain in place.” He notes that most organisations have already realised the benefits of automating routine invoice processing, leaving the more judgement-intensive tasks as the next major opportunity for transformation. “Exception management isn’t just about one invoice. It often requires bringing together data from ERP systems, procurement platforms, contracts, previous transactions and supplier communications before a decision can be made.”

The hidden cost of being ‘almost automated’

For many finance functions, partial automation creates a false sense of digital maturity.

Rather than eliminating manual work, it often shifts finance professionals towards the most time-consuming and complex tasks, affecting productivity, working capital and supplier relationships.

“‘Almost automated’ often means you’ve automated the lowest-value work while leaving your people with the most complex and time-consuming tasks.”

Delayed approvals can result in missed early-payment discounts, weaker cash management and prolonged supplier disputes, while manual investigations consume skilled finance resources that could otherwise support forecasting and strategic planning.

Sas also warns that governance becomes more difficult when finance processes move outside managed systems. “Perhaps most importantly, decision-makers lose visibility. When work is happening across emails and spreadsheets rather than within governed workflows, it becomes much harder to understand where bottlenecks exist or where financial risk is emerging.”

As the UAE moves towards mandatory e-invoicing, Sas believes businesses should treat compliance as a catalyst for wider finance transformation rather than a standalone regulatory requirement.

“Compliance should be viewed as the starting point, not the end goal.”

He says finance leaders should use the transition to modernise end-to-end AP processes, improve data quality, strengthen governance and ensure finance systems integrate seamlessly across the organisation. Standardised digital invoices may improve visibility, but they will not eliminate exceptions. “It’s also an opportunity to rethink exception handling. Standardised digital invoices improve visibility, but exceptions won’t disappear. Finance leaders should ensure they have processes that can intelligently resolve those cases while maintaining compliance and auditability.”

AI moves from detection to decision support

Sas believes AI is entering a new phase within finance, moving beyond document recognition and anomaly detection towards actively supporting decision-making.

Rather than simply identifying invoice mismatches, AI can now gather supporting documentation, analyse historical decisions, recommend potential resolutions, prepare supplier communications and direct cases to the appropriate stakeholders.

“The biggest shift is that AI can now assist with the work that follows identification.”

He stresses, however, that AI should augment finance professionals rather than replace them.

“Importantly, in finance this shouldn’t be viewed as replacing human judgement. The objective is to augment experienced finance professionals by accelerating investigation and presenting well-informed recommendations, while ensuring that significant financial decisions remain governed and transparent.”

Traditional finance automation metrics such as processing time, cost per invoice and straight-through processing rates remain important, but Sas argues they no longer provide the full picture.

Instead, CFOs should increasingly measure automation by its business impact.

“But today I’d place greater emphasis on business outcomes. How quickly are exceptions resolved? How predictable is cash flow? Are we improving working capital? Are we reducing operational risk? Are finance professionals spending more time supporting commercial decisions rather than processing transactions and provide high value added inputs?”

For Sas, successful automation is ultimately about enabling finance to become a strategic business partner rather than simply improving operational efficiency. “Ultimately, successful automation should strengthen the finance function’s ability to provide insight and support business growth, not simply process transactions faster.” Despite rapid advances in AI, Sas says finance departments cannot compromise on governance, transparency or compliance.

He believes organisations should define clear approval thresholds, maintain comprehensive audit trails and ensure AI decisions remain explainable.

“Finance has always operated within a strong framework of controls, and AI shouldn’t change that, it should reinforce it.” While low-risk, repetitive transactions can increasingly be handled autonomously, higher-value or unusual financial decisions should continue to involve human oversight. “As CFOs, we don’t simply need faster decisions, we need decisions that are explainable, compliant and aligned with our governance framework.”

Towards an autonomous finance function

Looking ahead, Sas expects accounts payable to become significantly more proactive over the next five years, powered by agentic automation operating behind intuitive user experiences.

“I believe the AP function will become far more proactive than reactive and significantly more focused to employees and suppliers experiences, by having a simple and intuitive user interface, supported by agentic automation in the back.”

Routine transactions are expected to process autonomously, while AI will increasingly resolve today’s manual exceptions.

That evolution will allow finance professionals to shift their focus from chasing approvals and investigating discrepancies towards supplier performance, spending analysis, working capital optimisation and strategic decision-making.

“Ultimately, I don’t see AI replacing finance professionals. I see it allowing finance teams to operate at a much higher level, using their expertise to guide the business while routine operational work happens increasingly in the background under appropriate governance.”