Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Global air travel remained heavily disrupted on Sunday as continued air strikes kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, closed. Key transit hubs across the region were shut or severely restricted, affecting flights worldwide.
Airports shut as regional airspace remains closed
Key transit airports, including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Doha in Qatar, were shut or severely restricted as much of the region’s airspace remained closed after US and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Israel said it launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday, while loud blasts were heard for a second day near Dubai and over Doha after Iran launched retaliatory air attacks on neighbouring Gulf states.
Dubai International Airport sustained damage during Iran’s attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit.
Thousands of flights affected, flight-tracking data shows
Thousands of flights have been affected across the Middle East, according to data on flight-tracking platform FlightAware.
Airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel, Bahrain, the UAE and Qatar remained virtually empty, maps by Flightradar24 showed early on Sunday.
The flight-tracking service said a new “Notice to Airmen” (NOTAM) had extended closure of Iranian airspace until at least 0830 GMT on March 3.
Global ripple effects as major hubs go idle
The airport closures have rippled far beyond the Middle East, with Dubai and Doha described as key crossroads of east-west air travel that funnel long-haul traffic between Europe and Asia through networks of connecting flights.
With those hubs idle, aircraft and crews remained stranded out of position, disrupting airline schedules worldwide.
“It’s the sheer volume of people and the complexity,” said UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland.
“It is not only customers, it is the crews and aircraft all over place.”
How will the airport closures affect your upcoming travel plans?