US-Iran conflict disrupts thousands of flights as travel chaos deepens

Summary

• US and Israeli attacks on Iran prompted Iranian retaliation on Gulf states, leading to widespread airspace closures across the Middle East.
• Thousands of global flights were delayed or cancelled, severely disrupting air transport to the Middle East, the biggest disruption since Covid-19.
• Major airlines suspended flights to affected Middle Eastern airports like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha, some of which sustained damage.

PARIS – Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled in the biggest disruption to global air transport since the Covid-19 pandemic, as airlines suspend services to the Middle East following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Key transit airports, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Doha in Qatar, were shut or severely restricted as much of the region’s airspace remained closed.

The Gulf is grappling with uncertainty after US and Israeli strikes killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
on Feb 28.

Israel said it launched another wave of strikes on Iran on March 1. Loud blasts, meanwhile, were heard for a second day near Dubai and over Doha after Iran launched retaliatory air attacks
on the neighbouring Gulf states.

Dubai International Airport sustained damage during Iran’s attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit.

“It’s the sheer volume of people and the complexity,” said Britain-based aviation analyst John Strickland. “It is not only customers; it is the crews and aircraft all over place.”

Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies after strikes on Feb 28 and Iran launching missiles at capital cities around the wealthy Gulf region.

Major carriers from the Middle East, Europe, Asia-Pacific and the United States announced widespread cancellations, leaving thousands of passengers stranded.

Notable airlines that cancelled services included Emirates, Etihad, Air France, British Airways, Air India, Turkish Airlines, and Lufthansa.

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, of around 4,218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Feb 28, 966 (22.9 per cent) were cancelled, with the figure rising above 1,800 if also including outbound flights.

For March 1, 716 flights out of 4,329 scheduled to the Middle East have been cancelled, Cirium said.

Flight tracking website FlightAware, meanwhile, said more than 19,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2,600 were cancelled as of 0230 GMT on March 1.

Iran swiftly closed its airspace as the strikes began “until further notice”, said the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, quoted by the Tasnim news agency.

Israel also closed its airspace to civilian flights, Transport Minister Miri Regev announced.

Qatar’s civil aviation authority said it temporarily closed the Gulf state’s airspace.

Iraq shut down airspace, state media said.

The United Arab Emirates said it was closing its skies “partially and temporarily”.

Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours, the Civil Aviation Authority said.

Jordan’s air force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies”, its military said.

Kuwait closed its airspace.

Flights cancelled everywhere

Gulf carrier Emirates suspended all its operations to and from Dubai until 3pm (7pm, Singapore time) on March 1.

Qatar Airways suspended all flights from Doha. It cancelled 41 per cent of total flights, according to Cirium.

Singapore Airlines and Singapore’s Scoot cancelled 26 flights
between Feb 28 and March 7.

Syria Air cancelled all flights until further notice.

Egypt’s national airline, EgyptAir, announced the suspension of its flights to cities across the Middle East, including Dubai, Doha, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Beirut and Baghdad among others.

Russia’s air transport authority Rosaviatsia said all commercial flights to Israel and Iran were cancelled “until further notice”.

Turkish Airlines cancelled flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan until March 2.

Air France cancelled its Dubai, Riyadh and Beirut flights for Feb 28, and flights to Tel Aviv until March 1.

British Airways said it was not flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4, and cancelled flights to the Jordanian capital Amman on Feb 28.

Swiss International Air Lines suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7, and cancelled flights from Zurich to Dubai scheduled for Feb 28 and March 1.

Germany’s Lufthansa, which comprises Swiss and ITA Airways, cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7.

The airline group and its subsidiaries suspended flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until March 1.

KLM said on Feb 28 it cancelled or adjusted flights across the region and was avoiding the airspace of Iran, Iraq, Israel and parts of the Gulf.

The Dutch arm of Air France-KLM confirmed that weekend services to and from Dubai, and the Saudi Arabian cities of Dammam and Riyadh have been cancelled. It has also suspended its Amsterdam-Tel Aviv route.

Delta Air Lines suspended New York–Tel Aviv flights until March 1.

American Airlines “temporarily suspended” Doha-Philadelphia flights.

United flights to Tel Aviv are cancelled until March 2, and flights to Dubai until March 1.

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

India’s two largest private carriers, IndiGo and Air India, suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East.

Pakistan International Airlines, the flag carrier of the country that borders Iran, said it had suspended flights to the UAE, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.

Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific suspended flights to Dubai and Riyadh.

Garuda Indonesia, Indonesia’s flag carrier, temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha “until further notice”, the company said in a statement on March 1.

Philippine Airlines flights from Manila to Doha, Riyadh to Manila, and Dubai to Manila were cancelled on Feb 28, as well as one Doha-Manila flight on March 1.