Global air travel remained severely disrupted on Sunday as ongoing air strikes virtually shut down major airports in the Middle East, including Dubai, the world's busiest international hub, in one of the most severe aviation disruptions in recent years.
Key transit airports, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates and Doha in Qatar, were closed or severely restricted as much of the region's airspace remained closed after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Israel announced that it had launched another wave of attacks on Iran on Sunday, with loud explosions heard for a second day near Dubai and over Doha after Iran launched retaliatory air strikes on neighboring Gulf states.
Dubai International Airport suffered damage during the Iranian attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit.
According to data from the FlightAware flight tracking platform, thousands of flights in the Middle East were affected.
The airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, and Qatar remained virtually empty, according to Flightradar24 maps from Sunday morning.
The flight tracking service said a new "Notice to Airmen" (NOTAM) extended the closure of Iranian airspace until at least 8:30 GMT on March 3.
The airport closures extended far beyond the Middle East. Dubai and neighboring Doha lie at the crossroads of air traffic between East and West, rerouting long-haul traffic between Europe and Asia through densely scheduled networks of connecting flights. With these hubs idle, planes and crews were stranded in their locations, disrupting airline schedules around the world.
"It's because of the sheer volume of people (being transported) and the complexity," said British aviation analyst John Strickland. "It's not just customers, but also crews and planes all over the place."
Airlines in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East canceled or rerouted flights to avoid closed or restricted airspace, lengthening journeys and increasing fuel costs.
The disruption to flights has been exacerbated by the loss of Iranian and Iraqi overflight routes, which have grown in importance since the Russian-Ukrainian war forced airlines to avoid the airspace of both countries.
The closure of airspace in the Middle East is squeezing airlines into narrower corridors, and fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan poses an additional risk, said Ian Petchenik, director of communications at Flightradar24.
"The risk of long-term disruption is a major concern for commercial air travel," Petchenik said.
"Any escalation of the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that would lead to the closure of airspace would have drastic consequences for travel between Europe and Asia."
Reuters is providing the latest information on flights, from which we have selected the following.
AIR EUROPA
The Spanish airline canceled its flights to Tel Aviv on Sunday and Monday and is monitoring the situation to assess operations from Tuesday onwards.
BRITISH AIRWAYS
British Airways has announced that it has canceled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 3.
EMIRATES
Emirates, based in the United Arab Emirates, said in a post on X that it has temporarily suspended flights to and from Dubai.
ETIHAD
Etihad, based in the United Arab Emirates, announced that flights scheduled to depart from Abu Dhabi have been suspended until 2 p.m. local time on Sunday.
FLYDUBAI
The airline said it had temporarily suspended all flights to and from Dubai until 3 p.m. local time on Sunday.
LOT POLISH AIRLINES
Polish airline LOT returned its flight from Warsaw to Dubai back to Warsaw airport.
LUFTHANSA
The German airline suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv in Israel, Beirut in Lebanon, and Oman until March 7, and flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday.
It also said it would not fly through Israeli, Lebanese, Jordanian, Iraqi, and Iranian airspace until March 7.
PEGASUS AIRLINES
The airline said that flights to Iran, Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon have been canceled through March 2.
QATAR AIRWAYS
The airline said that flights are temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Further information will be provided on Monday by 9:00 a.m. local time.
TURKISH AIRLINES
The airline canceled flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman on Saturday, and flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan until March 2.
VIRGIN ATLANTIC
Virgin Atlantic has announced that it will temporarily avoid Iraqi airspace, resulting in some pre-planned diversions of its flights.
WIZZ AIR
The Hungarian airline has suspended flights to and from Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Amman with immediate effect until March 7.
It added that operational decisions will continue to be reviewed and the flight schedule may be adjusted depending on how the situation develops.
(reuters, im)