Dubai International Airport is about to get a lot busier. Between late October and mid-December, four European carriers are reinstating services to DXB, adding up to 36 weekly flights on routes that were paused earlier in the year. If you've been holding off on booking a Dubai trip because your preferred airline wasn't flying, that excuse is about to expire.

The rollcall starts on October 25, when Lufthansa brings back flights to both of its German hubs, Munich and Frankfurt. Timed nicely for anyone plotting a pre-Christmas city break, those routes double as gateways to Germany's famous Christmas markets — book a December departure and you can do glühwein and bratwurst in Munich before or after your Dubai stint.

Swiss returns on October 27 with flights to Zurich, a straightforward option for travellers wanting a clean one-stop connection through Switzerland's biggest city.

The biggest chunk of capacity lands on November 1, when Eurowings resumes flights from three German cities: Berlin daily, Stuttgart four times a week and Cologne-Bonn three times a week — 14 weekly frequencies in total. That's a lot of flexibility for Germans heading to the Gulf in winter, and a lot of seat availability (read: potentially good fares) for the return direction too.

Austrian Airlines wraps up the comeback on December 12 with Vienna flights, landing you in Austria's capital right as the festive season kicks in — think Christmas markets, concert halls and early-evening light displays.

There's good news for UK travellers as well: British Airways resumes its daily London Heathrow to Dubai service on November 3, and plans to bump that up to twice daily from next year.

The flip side: not everyone is rushing back. Cathay Pacific, United Airlines, Air Canada and Virgin Atlantic have all pushed their returns to 2027, so if you're flying from North America, Canada or Hong Kong, your routing options stay thinner for now.

Why it matters: the northern winter is peak season for Dubai, when the city's beach weather is actually pleasant rather than punishing, and these returning routes make a two-centre holiday — festive Europe plus winter-sun Dubai — genuinely easy to piece together on a single carrier.