Indian airlines Air India and Akasa Air said on Tuesday they were cancelling some flights after ash plumes from a volcanic eruption in Ethiopia disrupted operations.
Air India said it had cancelled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday to make precautionary checks on aircraft that had flown over some locations after the eruption, following a directive to airlines from India's aviation regulator.
Smaller peer Akasa said it had scrapped scheduled flights with Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi scheduled during the two days.
The ash cloud is moving towards China and is expected to clear Indian skies by 1400 GMT Tuesday, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a statement.
Ethiopia's Hayli Gubbi volcano sent ash plumes up to 14 km high after erupting on Sunday for the first time in recorded history, according to media reports.
On Tuesday, the ash had covered parts of Pakistan and northern India, according to tracking website Flightradar24, after crossing Yemen and Oman.
The death toll from the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has surpassed 5,000, government data showed on Friday, as authorities had yet to find a way to control the country's deadliest Ebola epidemic on record.
Seven people, including five children, have died and seven others were injured after torrential rains triggered flash floods in eastern Syria, state news agency (SANA) reported on Friday.
Six people were feared dead in a helicopter crash in the Indian Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on Friday, television channels reported, adding that bad weather was suspected to be the cause.
The UAE has confirmed that the oil spill from the tanker GEM No. 2 has been contained, as authorities continue environmental remediation efforts along affected coastlines.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has reviewed plans and implementation stages of the AED 500 million Arab Reading Challenge Endowment project, which will be developed by Sobha Realty in Dubai.