Airlines suspended flights across the Middle East on Saturday, including to and from the world’s busiest travel hub Dubai, after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a renewed military confrontation.
Flight maps showed airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain virtually empty as Israel said it struck Iran and the U.S. military initiated a series of strikes against targets in the country. Iran retaliated with a salvo of missiles.
Witnesses told Reuters about explosions across the Gulf, including in Qatar’s Doha, which hosts the biggest U.S. military base in the Middle East, as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates – key regional transport hubs.
Dubai Airports said all flights at Dubai International, which handled nearly 100 million passengers last year, as well as the smaller Al Maktoum International airport, were suspended until further notice, urging passengers not to travel.
“Due to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has temporarily suspended operations to and from Dubai,” the Dubai-based carrier said, while its sister airline flydubai said it had temporarily suspended operations.
Etihad Airways said all flights scheduled to depart Abu Dhabi were suspended until 1000 GMT on Sunday, and flights expected to arrive at the Gulf hub before that time would be cancelled. “Flights already en route to Abu Dhabi are returning to their origin airports where required,” it added.
The escalation dimmed hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran’s nuclear dispute with the West and reignited conflict after weeks of U.S. military buildup in the region.
It marks the latest upheaval for air travel in the usually busy region amid escalating tensions. Airports in the Middle East are some of the busiest in the world, covering an area stretching from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean and serving as a connecting hub for flights between Europe and Asia.
“Passengers and airlines can expect airspace to be shut for quite some time in the region,” said Eric Schouten, head of aviation security advisory Dyami. “The impact on regional aviation is immediate and highly fluid.”
Airlines have cancelled almost 40% of flights to Israel and 6.7% of flights to the broader region on Saturday, according to preliminary Cirium data. That number seems likely to rise.
At Doha’s Hamad International Airport, gates appeared almost empty, while stranded passengers queued to make hotel arrangements. There was uncertainty about when flight schedules would resume, a Reuters witness reported.
The region has taken on a more important role since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has forced airlines to avoid airspace over both countries.
Conflict zones are an increasing operational burden on airlines as aerial attacks raise worries about accidental or deliberate shoot-downs of commercial air traffic. Longer flight times also require more fuel, adding to their costs.
Israel, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan closed their airspace following the attacks and a map of the region on Flightradar24 showed planes avoiding these areas.
Traffic instead appeared to be collecting around Larnaca, Cyprus, Jeddah, Cairo and Riyadh airports, according to the flight-tracking service, which earlier on Saturday experienced an outage due to a spike in the number of visitors to its website.
The European Union’s aviation regulator EASA on Saturday recommended its airlines stay out of the airspace affected by the ongoing military intervention. British Airways, owned by IAG, said it had cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 3, as well as Saturday’s flights to Amman. The Russian Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that Russian air carriers had suspended flights to Iran and Israel.
Germany’s Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday and halting temporarily the Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman routes until March 7. Air France cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut.
Iberia also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv, while Wizz Air suspended flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman with immediate effect until the same date, it said.
India’s civil aviation authority the country was on alert to manage potential flight diversions due to tensions in the Middle East, as carriers like Air India and Indigo suspended flights.
Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways temporarily suspended flights, while Turkish Airlines also cancelled flights to several Middle Eastern destinations.
Kuwait’s aviation authority said it was halting all flights to Iran until further notice, according to the state news agency, while Oman Air said it had suspended all flights to Baghdad due to the regional developments.
KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, has brought forward the suspension of its Amsterdam-Tel Aviv service, cancelling the flight scheduled for Saturday after strikes in Iran, a spokesperson said.
The airline had announced on Wednesday that flights would be halted from Sunday, March 1. Only one flight to Tel Aviv had been scheduled for Saturday.
Virgin Atlantic said it had decided to temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, resulting in some re-routing of its flights.