Airlines suspended flights throughout Saturday, the world’s busiest travel hub, after the United States and Israel attacked Iran, plunging the region into a new and more dangerous military confrontation.
Flight charts showed the airspace over , Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain nearly empty as Israel reported striking Iran and the US military launched a series of strikes against targets in the country. Iran retaliated with a barrage of missiles.
Witnesses told Reuters of explosions across the Gulf, including in Doha, Qatar, home to the largest US military base in the Middle East and key regional transport hubs.
Dubai Airports said all flights at Dubai International Airport, 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 closures in regional airspace, Emirates has temporarily suspended its flights to and from Dubai,” the Dubai-based airline said, while sister airline flydubai said it had temporarily suspended its flights.
Etihad Airways said all flights scheduled to depart Abu Dhabi were suspended until 10:00 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 being returned to their origin airports where required,” he added.
Airstrikes fuel regional unrest
The escalation dampened hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran’s nuclear standoff with the West and reignited the conflict after weeks of US military reinforcements in the region.
It marks the latest upheaval for air travel in the normally busy region amid escalating tensions. Airports in the Middle East are among 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 remain closed for some time in the area,” said Eric Suten, head of aviation security consultancy Dyami. “The impact on regional aviation is immediate and highly fluid.”
Rerouting flights to the Middle East
Airlines canceled nearly 40 percent of flights to Israel and 6.7 percent of flights to the greater region on Saturday, according to preliminary data from Cirium. That number looks likely to rise.
At Doha’s Hamad International Airport, the gates appeared almost empty as stranded passengers waited in line for hotel appointments. There was uncertainty about when flights would resume, an eyewitness told Reuters.
The region has taken on a more prominent role since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has forced airlines to avoid airspace over both countries.
Conflict zones are a growing operational burden for airlines as airstrikes raise concerns about accidental or deliberate downing of commercial aircraft. Longer flight times also require more fuel, increasing their costs.
Israel, Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Jordan closed their airspace after the attacks, and a map of the area on Flightradar24 showed planes avoiding those areas.
Traffic appeared to be concentrated around Larnaca, Cyprus, Jeddah, Cairo and Riyadh airports, according to the flight tracking service, which earlier on Saturday experienced an outage due to a surge in visitors to its website.
Suspension of flights for many airlines
The European Union’s aviation regulator, EASA, on Saturday advised its airlines not to fly in airspace affected by the ongoing military intervention.
British Airways, owned by IAG, said it had canceled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 3, as well as Saturday flights to Amman.
The Russian Transport Ministry announced on Saturday that Russian airlines have suspended flights to Iran and Israel.
Germany’s Lufthansa said it had suspended flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday and temporarily suspended services to Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman until March 7. Air France canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut.
Iberia also canceled 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 said the country was on alert to manage possible flight diversions due to tensions in the Middle East, as carriers including Air India and Indigo grounded flights.
Regional companies affected
Qatar Airways and Kuwait Airways temporarily suspended flights, while Turkish Airlines also canceled flights to several destinations in the Middle East.
Kuwait’s aviation authority said it was suspending 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 regional developments.
KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM, has suspended its Amsterdam-Tel Aviv flight, canceling the flight scheduled for Saturday after the strikes in Iran, a spokesman said.
The airline had announced on Wednesday that flights would cease from Sunday, March 1. Only one flight to Tel Aviv was scheduled for Saturday.
Virgin Atlantic has announced that it has decided to temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, causing some of its flights to be rerouted.
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