Middle East airspace crisis halts flights; 19,000 delayed worldwide

Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were among those to announce at least partial sky closures.

The knock-on effect was widespread: flights were suspended, cancelled or diverted, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded in multiple countries.

The disruption hit major regional hubs, including Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Aviation analytics firm Cirium said more than 1,800 flights operated by leading Middle Eastern airlines were cancelled.

Of about 4,218 flights scheduled to arrive in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, 966, or 22.9%, were scrapped.

716 out of 4,329 scheduled flights to the Middle East were cancelled on Sunday.

FlightAware reported that more than 19,000 flights were delayed worldwide.

Separately, Flightradar24 said more than 3,400 flights were cancelled on Sunday across seven airports in the region: Dubai International, Hamad International Airport in Doha, Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi, Sharjah International Airport, Kuwait International Airport, Bahrain International Airport, and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International.

With the conflict’s trajectory uncertain, many passengers said they were left in limbo.

Jonathan Escott, travelling with his fiancée, arrived at Newcastle airport in England on Saturday only to learn that his direct Emirates flight to Dubai had been cancelled.

He returned to stay with family about an hour away, unsure when he would be able to fly.

“No one knows,” he said, adding that in his view, airlines had little clarity about how the conflict would develop.

The aviation crisis unfolded as Iran launched retaliatory attacks after the US and Israel strikes, targeting Israel and Gulf states hosting US military bases, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.

Cirium noted that the region’s three biggest carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, typically see around 90,000 passengers a day passing through their hubs, with even more travellers heading to Middle Eastern destinations.

Two UAE airports reported incidents on Saturday, after the government condemned what it described as a “blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles”.

Dubai International Airport said four people were injured.

Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi said a drone strike killed one person and injured seven others.

Strikes were also reported at Kuwait International Airport.

Iran did not publicly claim responsibility, while Gulf states said the scale of the retaliatory attacks they attributed to Iran went beyond the American bases that Tehran had previously said it would target.

Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group, warned travellers to brace for continued disruption.

 

“You should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end,” he said.

By Sunday, with the conflict entering a second day, airports across the Middle East were still closed, and airlines urged passengers to check flight status online before travelling to terminals.

Dubai Airports said on X that all operations at Dubai International and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International were suspended until further notice.

Emirates said it had temporarily halted all flights to and from Dubai up to 3pm local time (12pm CET) on Monday, March 2.

In Qatar, Hamad International Airport remained temporarily closed because Qatari airspace had been shut.

Qatar Airways said it would restart services once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announced that the airspace could safely reopen, and it expected to issue a further update by 9am local time (7am CET) on Monday, March 2.

The impact spread quickly across international routes.

FlightAware said at least 145 aircraft bound early Saturday for destinations including Tel Aviv and Dubai were diverted to airports such as Athens, Istanbul and Rome, while other flights turned back to their departure points.

One flight spent almost 15 hours airborne after leaving Philadelphia, reaching Spain, then returning to its origin.

Airlines around the world also pulled services into Dubai across the weekend.

India’s civil aviation agency designated large parts of the Middle East, including airspace over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, as a high-security risk zone at all altitudes.

FlightRadar24’s live map showed the main east–west corridor over Iraq on Sunday at 10.30am CET, usually a heavily used “superhighway” connecting Asia and Europe, almost empty.

Among Gulf carriers, Cirium said Emirates cancelled 38% of its flights on Saturday and Etihad 30%, while Qatar Airways suspended departures from Doha, with 41% of its flights cancelled.

Etihad said all services to and from Abu Dhabi were suspended until 2am UAE time on Monday, March 2 (11pm CET on Sunday, March 1).

Low-cost carrier Wizz Air halted flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman with immediate effect, through March 7, and suspended flights to and from Saudi Arabia until March 2.

Turkish Airlines said it had cancelled flights to and from Bahrain, Dammam and Riyadh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria, and the UAE.

Air France suspended flights to Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh on Sunday, while KLM had already said earlier in the week it was pausing flights to and from Tel Aviv.

British Airways said it was not flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4, and that several other Middle East flights had also been cancelled.

It added that passengers due to travel between London Heathrow and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, or Tel Aviv could change flights free of charge up to and including March 6, while customers travelling up to and including March 4 could request a full refund.

Lufthansa Group, including Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, ITA Airways and Eurowings, said it had suspended flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7, and would avoid the airspace of Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar and Iran until March 7.

It also said it would suspend flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Riyadh and Dammam until March 1, as well as the airspace of the UAE until March 1, and that affected passengers could rebook free of charge or seek a refund.

Finnair suspended daily flights to Dubai and Doha until March 6, while Norwegian said it was pausing services to and from Dubai through March 4.

Delta Air Lines suspended New York–Tel Aviv flights until Sunday, March 1, and American Airlines said its Doha–Philadelphia flights were “temporarily suspended”.

Air Canada cancelled flights from Canada to Israel until March 8 and to Dubai until March 3.

Air India suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East on Sunday, March 1, while Pakistan International Airlines said it had halted flights to the UAE, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.

Garuda Indonesia said it had temporarily suspended Doha services “until further notice”.

As airlines rerouted to avoid conflict zones, with many flights diverting south over Saudi Arabia, journeys were expected to lengthen, raising fuel use and operating costs, and potentially pushing up fares if the disruption persists.

On compensation, Ella Jo Rhodes, a travel expert at UK consumer champion Which, said passengers whose flights were delayed or cancelled would not be entitled to compensation because of the extraordinary circumstances.

However, she said travellers flying with a UK or EU airline, or departing from a UK or EU airport on any carrier, should receive assistance during delays, including food and drink and, where necessary, overnight accommodation.

If a journey is cancelled, she added, passengers are entitled to a full refund.

Euronews