Thousands of flights have been cancelled across the Middle East, with hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded as the fallout from US-Israeli strikes on Iran continues to disrupt global air travel. Gulf airports and airlines have suspended normal operations until at least 10:00 GMT on Tuesday, though a limited number of special services were due to depart from the UAE on Monday evening.
Major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai – the world’s busiest international hub – have closed for a third consecutive day, marking the most acute aviation shock since the Covid pandemic. According to analysts Cirium, almost 1,700 flights to the Middle East had been cancelled by Monday morning, though the figure is likely an underestimate due to limited data from Iran and the UAE.
Emirates and Etihad Airways said flights to and from their hubs would not operate until late Tuesday morning, while Qatar Airways has suspended operations as long as Qatari airspace remains closed. Emirates and Etihad were poised to resume selected flights on Monday evening, offering hope that wider passenger travel could resume. The UAE’s aviation authority said it would allow “special flights” across the country’s airports to operate to allow stranded passengers to depart.
Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar was still virtually empty as of Monday, according to flight-tracking website Flightradar24. The impact has spread far beyond the Middle East, with passengers stranded from Bali to Frankfurt. Air India cancelled flights on Sunday departing from Delhi, Mumbai and Amritsar for big cities in Europe and North America.
Some carriers and travel companies are offering refunds or free changes to those due to travel in the coming weeks. British Airways has told passengers due to fly out from London to the Gulf, Israel or Jordan until 15 March that they can delay travel free of charge. Tui said it would be contacting all customers due to travel to the Middle East in the coming week, while still making arrangements to bring people back from Dubai and Qatar.
Shares in Tui dropped 9%, while the British Airways owner IAG was down 5%. The uber-wealthy have found an alternative route out of the Middle East, with private jets from Riyadh to Europe costing up to $350,000 (£260,000), according to Ameerh Naran, chief executive of the private jet brokerage Vimana Private.
