The global commercial aviation industry has been severely hamstrung with the shutdown of flights into and out of the Middle East due to the ongoing war against Iran launched by the United States and Israel.
Airports in Abu Dhabi and Dubai have been hit with missiles fired by Iran, according to media reports and reports from the airports themselves. One person was reported killed in Abu Dhabi while four other people were reported injured in Dubai. Qatar has also closed its airport in Doha due to the continuing battles.
Hundreds of thousands of travellers were either stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace, according to an Associated Press report. There also was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government there announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace. That led to the closure of key hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, and the cancellation of more than 1,800 flights by major Middle Eastern airlines. The three major airlines that operate at those airports — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad — typically have about 90,000 passengers per day crossing through those hubs and even more travellers headed to destinations in the Middle East, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Numerous airlines cancelled international flights to Dubai through the weekend, as India’s civil aviation agency designated much of the Middle East — including skies above Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon — as a high-security risk zone at all altitudes.
Air India cancelled all flights to Mideast destinations. Turkish Airlines said flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan were suspended until Monday and flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman were suspended. The airline said additional cancellations may be announced, and many other airlines were suspending flights into the region through the weekend.
The European Union’s aviation regulator EASA on Saturday recommended its airlines stay out of the airspace affected by the ongoing military intervention. British Airways said it had cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 3, as well as Saturday’s flights to Amman, according to Reuters. The Russian Ministry of Transport said on Saturday that Russian air carriers had suspended flights to Iran and Israel. Germany’s Lufthansa said it was suspending flights to and from Dubai on Saturday and Sunday and halting the Tel Aviv, Beirut and Oman routes until March 7. Air France and Iberia also cancelled flights to Tel Aviv and Beirut, while Wizz Air suspended flights to Israel, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Amman. Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways suspended operations in the region, affecting passenger flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh, as well as freighter services operating through Al Maktoum airport in Dubai.
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