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The US and Israel’s attack on Iran continued to cause severe disruption to flights throughout the Middle East and beyond on Sunday.
Countries across the region closed their airspace, and three of the key airports that connect Europe, Africa and the west to Asia halted operations.
Hundreds of thousands of travellers were either stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain shut their airspace. There were also no flights over the United Arab Emirates, the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.
That led to the closure of airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha and the cancellation of thousands of flights by major Middle Eastern and global airlines, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic.
The three major airlines that operate at those airports – Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad – typically have about 90,000 passengers a day passing through those hubs, and even more travellers headed to destinations in the Middle East, according to the aviation analytics firm Cirium. Dubai is the world’s busiest airport for international traffic.
On Sunday, more than 3,400 flights were cancelled across the seven main airports in the Middle East. Emirates said all operations to and from Dubai had been suspended until 3pm UAE time on Monday.
Qatar Airways said it would resume operations when the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announced the safe reopening of Qatari airspace, adding that it would provide a further update by 9am Doha time on Monday. Etihad said flights to and from Abu Dhabi were suspended until 2am UAE time on Monday.
Major international airports in the region also became targets of Iran’s retaliatory strikes. Dubai’s international airport and its landmark Burj Al Arab hotel sustained damage and four people were injured. Abu Dhabi Airports said in a post on X that an incident at Zayed international airport in the UAE’s capital resulted in one death and seven injuries. It later deleted the post.
Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar remained virtually empty, maps by Flightradar24 showed on Sunday.
The tracking service said a new “notice to airmen” had extended closure of Iranian airspace until at least 8.30am UK time on Tuesday.
Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, said: “For travellers, there’s no way to sugarcoat this. You should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.”
According to Cirium, of about 4,218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, 966 (23%) were cancelled. It said the number of cancellations rose above 1,800 if including outbound flights.
The website FlightAware said more than 18,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2,350 cancelled worldwide as of 10.30pm GMT on Saturday.
Airlines that are crossing the Middle East will have to reroute flights around the conflict, with many flights headed south over Saudi Arabia. That will add hours to those flights and consume additional fuel, adding to the costs airlines will have to absorb. So ticket prices could quickly start to increase if the conflict lingers.
The added flights will also put pressure on air traffic controllers in Saudi Arabia who may have to slow traffic to make sure they can handle it safely.
“It’s the sheer volume of people and the complexity,” said John Strickland, a UK-based aviation analyst. “It is not only customers, it is the crews and aircraft all over the place.”
On Sunday, Austrian Airlines sent an evacuation flight to Muscat, the capital of Oman, to return staff and crew unable to fly from Dubai.
The airspace closures in the Middle East could be exacerbated by the fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan, squeezing airlines into even narrower flight corridors.
“Any escalation in the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that results in the closure of airspace would have drastic consequences for travel between Europe and Asia,” said Ian Petchenik, a communications director at Flightradar24.
It is unclear how long the disruption to flights could last. The situation was changing quickly and airlines urged passengers to check their flight status online before heading to the airport.
Nearly half – 24 out of 56 – of the flights scheduled to depart from London Heathrow to destinations in the Middle East were cancelled on Sunday, according to data from Cirium. Some airlines issued waivers to travellers that will allow them to rebook their flight plans without paying extra fees or higher fares.
Jonathan Escott and his fiance had arrived at the airport in Newcastle, England, on Saturday only to find out that his direct flight to Dubai on Emirates airline was cancelled, leaving everyone on the flight stuck there.
Escott left to go back to where he was staying with family, about an hour from the airport, and had no idea when he may be able to travel. “No one knows,” Escott said. “No one really knows what’s going on with the conflict, really. Not Emirates, Emirates don’t have a clue. No one has a clue.”
The cancellations
Numerous airlines cancelled international flights to Dubai through the weekend, as India’s civil aviation agency designated much of the Middle East – including skies above Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon – as a high security risk zone at all altitudes.
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Air India cancelled all flights to Middle East destinations, as well as some other destinations including London, New York and Paris.
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Turkish Airlines said flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan were suspended until Monday and flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman were suspended.
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US-based Delta Air Lines and United Airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv at least through the weekend.
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The Dutch airline KLM had already announced earlier in the week that it was suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv. It has now also cancelled services to Dubai, Dammam and Riyadh.
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Lufthansa suspended services to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman until Saturday, and flights in and out of Dubai.
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Pegasus Airlines has cancelled all services to Iran, Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.
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Airlines including Air France and Transavia cancelled all flights to Lebanon, while American Airlines suspended flights from Philadelphia to Doha.
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Virgin Atlantic said it would avoid flying over Iraq, meaning flights to and from India, the Maldives and Riyadh could take slightly longer. The airline was already not flying over Iran and said all flights would carry appropriate fuel in case they need to reroute on short notice.
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British Airways said flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain would be suspended until next week, and flights to Amman, Jordan, were cancelled on Saturday. It said customers booked up to Wednesday could request a full refund.
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Wizz Air has suspended all flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman until next Sunday.
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LOT suspended flights to Tel Aviv until 15 March, and cancelled flights to Dubai and Riyadh until Monday.
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FlyDubai suspended flights to and from Dubai until 3pm local time on Monday.
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Air Canada cancelled flights to Dubai until Tuesday, and to Israel until next Sunday.
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Aegean Airlines, Greece’s largest carrier, suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut and Erbil until Monday.
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Air Astana has cancelled all flights to the Middle East until the end of Tuesday
Airspace closures
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Iran swiftly closed its airspace as the strikes began “until further notice”, according to its Civil Aviation Organisation.
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Israel also closed its airspace to civilian flights, the transport minister, Miri Regev, announced.
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Qatar’s civil aviation authority said it had temporarily closed the Gulf state’s airspace.
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Iraq shut down its airspace, state media said.
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The United Arab Emirates said it was closing its skies “partially and temporarily”.
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Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours, the civil aviation authority said.
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Jordan’s air force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies”, its military said.
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Kuwait closed its airspace.
With Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse
