London — The U.S. and Israeli attack on Iran disrupted air travel across the Middle East and beyond on Saturday, with countries around the region closing their airspace and airstrikes hitting Europe, Africa and major airports connecting the West and Asia.
Airports across the Middle East remained closed Sunday as the conflict entered its second day. Emirates has suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Sunday afternoon. Qatar Airways said Qatar Airport was closed until at least Monday morning. Israeli airspace also remained closed Sunday.
The closures have stranded tens of thousands of travelers around the world.
Hundreds of thousands of travelers were stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace on Saturday. It also said there was no flight activity over the UAE, according to aviation tracking website Flightradar24, after the UAE government announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.
This led to the closure of major hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, and the cancellation of more than 1,800 flights for major Middle East airlines. The three major airlines that serve these airports – Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways – typically have about 90,000 passengers passing through these hubs a day, with many more heading to destinations in the Middle East, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.
Two airports in the United Arab Emirates reported incidents on Saturday as the UAE government condemned what it called a “blatant attack involving an Iranian ballistic missile.”
Officials at Dubai International Airport, the UAE's largest airport and one of the world's busiest, said four people were injured in a drone attack, while Abu Dhabi's Zayed International Airport said one person was killed and seven others injured in a drone attack. A strike was also reported at Kuwait International Airport.
Although Iran did not publicly claim responsibility, the scope of the retaliatory attack, which Gulf states attributed to Iran, expanded beyond the U.S. military bases Iran had previously targeted.
“There's no way to surface this for the traveler,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group. “We should be prepared for delays and cancellations in the coming days as these attacks evolve and, hopefully, end.”
Airlines flying across the Middle East are having to reroute flights to avoid the conflict, with many heading south over Saudi Arabia. That would make the flight take longer, consume additional fuel, and further increase the costs that airlines have to bear. So if the dispute drags on, ticket prices could soon start rising.
The additional flights will also put pressure on Saudi air traffic controllers. They may have to slow down traffic to allow it to be handled safely. Countries that close their airspace will no longer receive overflight fees paid by airlines for overflight flights.
But Mike McCormick, who before leaving office oversaw air traffic control at the Federal Aviation Administration and is now a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said those countries could reopen some of their airspace in the coming days if U.S. and Israeli officials share with airlines where military flights operate and how well Iran maintains its missile-launching capabilities.
“Then these countries will be able to say, okay, we can reopen this part, but we're going to keep this part of our airspace closed,'” McCormick said. “So I think we'll see over the next 24 to 36 hours how the use of airspace evolves as the movement activity becomes more apparent and the attack reduces Iran's ability to actually launch missiles and create additional risks.”
However, it is unclear how long the disruption to flight operations will last. For comparison, the Israeli-US attack on Iran in June 2025 lasted 12 days.
The situation is rapidly evolving and airlines urged passengers to check flight status online before heading to the airport.
Some airlines have issued waivers to affected travelers, allowing them to rebook their flight plans without paying additional fees or higher fares.
Jonathan Escott and his fiancée arrived at Newcastle, England, airport on Saturday to learn that their direct Emirates flight to Dubai had been canceled, leaving all passengers stranded.
Escott left to return to where he was staying with his family, about an hour from the airport, but had no idea when he would be able to leave.
“Nobody knows,” Escott said. “No one really knows what's going on in the conflict. Not the Emirates. The Emirates has no clue. No one has a clue.”
Early Saturday morning, at least 145 planes headed to cities such as Tel Aviv and Dubai were diverted to airports in cities including Athens, Istanbul and Rome, according to FlightAware. The others turned and returned to where they started. One plane departed from Philadelphia, reached Spain, flew for nearly 15 hours, then turned around and returned to its point of departure.
Many airlines canceled international flights to Dubai over the weekend after the Civil Aviation Authority of India declared large parts of the Middle East, including airspace over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon, a high security risk zone at all altitudes.
Air India has canceled all flights to Middle East destinations. Turkish Airlines announced that flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan have been suspended until Monday, as well as flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman.
The airline said additional cancellations may be announced, and many other airlines are also suspending flights to the region through the weekend.
U.S.-based Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have suspended flights to Tel Aviv until at least the weekend. Dutch airline KLM had already announced earlier in the week that it would suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv.
Airlines such as Lufthansa, Air France, Transavia and Pegasus canceled all flights to Lebanon, and American Airlines suspended flights from Philadelphia to Doha.
Virgin Atlantic said it would avoid flying over Iraq, meaning flights to and from India, the Maldives and Riyadh could take slightly longer. The company said it was no longer flying over Iran and that all flights would carry adequate fuel in case they needed to change routes at short notice.
British Airways said flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain were suspended until next week, and flights to Amman, Jordan, were canceled on Saturday.
“Travelers should be prepared to expect a lot of disruption,” Harteveldt said. “Honestly, if you haven't left home, if you're going to be traveling to these destinations for at least a few days, or longer, you're more likely than not to leave home. And if you're going to go home, you're going to have to be very creative about how you get home.”
___
Levy reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Adam Schreck in Bangkok, Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.