Global air travel faced severe disruptions on Sunday as continued air strikes forced major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest international hubs, to close, creating one of the sharpest shocks to aviation in recent years.
Key transit hubs, including Abu Dhabi International Airport and airports in Doha, Qatar, were either shut down or operating under severe restrictions after US and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Israel launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday, while Iran retaliated with missile attacks on neighboring Gulf states, producing loud blasts heard over Dubai and Doha for a second day.
The attacks caused damage to Dubai International Airport, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also affected. Flight-tracking platform FlightAware reported that thousands of flights across the Middle East have been delayed, rerouted, or cancelled.
Maps from Flightradar24 showed that airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar remained virtually empty early Sunday. A new “Notice to Airmen” (NOTAM) extended the closure of Iranian airspace until at least 0830 GMT on March 3.
Airport closures created ripple effects across Asia and Europe. In Bali, Indonesia, long lines formed at I Gusti Ngurah Rai International Airport, while passengers waited on luggage at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport to get flight updates. Departure boards at Tribhuvan International Airport displayed a long list of cancellations.
Dubai and Doha are key hubs linking Europe and Asia through tightly scheduled connecting flights. With these hubs idle, aircraft and crews were stranded, disrupting airline operations worldwide. UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland noted, “It is not only customers, it is the crews and aircraft all over place.”
Airlines across Europe, Asia, and the Middle East cancelled or rerouted flights, lengthening travel times and increasing fuel costs. The loss of Iranian and Iraqi overflight routes, increasingly relied upon since the Russia-Ukraine war, further strained airline operations.
Flightradar24 communications director Ian Petchenik warned that “any escalation in the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that results in the closure of airspace would have drastic consequences for travel between Europe and Asia.”
Highlighting the global impact, Air India cancelled flights departing from Delhi, Mumbai, and Amritsar to major cities in Europe and North America on Sunday.
