By Jonathan Montpetit, The Canadian Press

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - Canada's top soldier and two cabinet ministers were up in the air Monday, their flight plans disrupted after the United Arab Emirates denied them landing in retaliation for a failed business deal.

Defence Minister Peter MacKay, Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn and Chief of the Defence Staff, Gen. Walt Natynczyk were flying home from a three-day visit in Afghanistan when the wealthy Gulf nation closed its air space to their plane, a military source in Ottawa confirmed to The Canadian Press.

The plane had to detour and it was unclear where it was headed afterwards. Government officials were not willing to confirm the location of the three senior officials, but one media report suggested a city in Europe.

Just hours earlier in Kandahar, MacKay indicated that Canada was being forced to vacate a military base in the UAE following the failure of negotiations to expand aviation links between the two countries.

"There have been discussion going on between the minister of foreign affairs and his counterpart. These discussions have been going on for some time," MacKay said a short time before he boarded the plane.

"And at this point, we will abide by the wishes of the Emirates, and... we will be leaving the base."

The UAE has been seeking more landing rights in Canada for its fast-growing state carriers, Emirates and Etihad. Amid strenuous objections by Air Canada, the talks stalled recently.

The UAE has blamed Canada for the failure of the five-year-long negotiations.

UAE's ambassador to Ottawa, Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ghafli, had warned Sunday that the failure to clinch a deal will "undoubtedly affect" bilateral relations.

By forcing Canada to vacate its base in Dubai, a once-secret installation known as Camp Mirage, the UAE will disrupt the Canadian military's principal supply line to Afghanistan.

Camp Mirage is Canada's only logistical hub in the Middle East. The only other regular re-supply route for the military in Kandahar is an overland crossing from Pakistan, which to date has been reserved for low-priority items.

Convoys travelling from Afghanistan's neighbour usually hire private security to fend off Taliban attacks.

The impending closure of Camp Mirage has left officials scrambling for an alternative. It was to play a major role in the withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan following the July 2011 end to the combat mission.

"We'll always act in Canada's best interests and one thing I know about the Canadian forces, they're very adaptable," MacKay said.

"They have alternative plans, they have contingency plans. With that in mind we're going through the various options that are before us right now.

"And we'll continue to do our mission here in Afghanistan... and we'll find other ways to support this mission through other hubs in the region," he added.

Natynczyk acknowledged the military was preparing to cope with upcoming changes to the Dubai base.

"We always have contingency plans in place," he said after serving Thanksgiving dinner to troops at a Canadian operating base in the Panjwaii district of Kandahar.

Canada had a years-old right to operate out of Camp Mirage under an agreement that expired in June. But each party was also allowed to give a one-month notice to end the agreement.

Media reports have suggested the UAE invoked that right last week.

At the heart of the dispute are demands by the two UAE airlines to increase the frequency and destinations of their flights to Canada. They currently operate a total of six flights a week to Toronto from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Air Canada has argued against increasing the flights, saying there is very little passenger traffic originating from the UAE and the two airlines are merely taking Canadians to third countries with stopovers in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

But Ambassador Al-Ghafli said with 27,000 Canadians living in the UAE, six flights per week do not service the economic needs of both countries.

"It is unfortunate that this process has been so protracted and frustrating," he said.

"The UAE entered negotiations in good faith on the understanding that a solution would be reached and that constructive ideas would be brought to the negotiating table. The fact that this has not come about undoubtedly affects the bilateral relationship."

Prior to being denied the right to land — which will likely be considered a major diplomatic snub — MacKay attempted to strike a conciliatory note to the UAE.

"We are very grateful for what the United Arab Emirates have allowed us to do within their country," MacKay said.

"They have been very supportive of the Canadian mission, supportive of the mission writ large, and for that we thank them."

The UAE is Canada's largest trade partner in the Middle East and North Africa with bilateral trade of over $1.5 billion.