More than 1,000 flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi were canceled after US and Israeli strikes on Iran triggered Iranian missile retaliation and sweeping airspace closures across the Middle East, according to Reuters. Authorities have not announced a timeline for reopening UAE airspace.
Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest international travel hub handling over 1,000 flights a day, was shut after sustaining damage during overnight Iranian retaliatory strikes across Gulf states, Reuters reported.
Abu Dhabi and Kuwait international airports were also hit.
Major hubs shut across the region
Major regional gateways including Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi were closed as countries across the Middle East restricted or shut their airspace following the escalation, Reuters said.
Flight tracking maps showed skies over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain largely empty, while airlines across Europe and the Middle East announced widespread cancellations.
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Dubai Airports suspended all flights at Dubai International and Al Maktoum International until further notice and urged passengers not to travel to the airport, according to Reuters.
Scale of cancellations
Preliminary data from aviation analytics firm Cirium showed airlines canceled about half of their flights to Qatar and Israel and roughly 28 percent of flights to Kuwait on Saturday. Overall, about 24 percent of flights to the Middle East were canceled, Reuters reported.
“The scale of these hubs today is just so enormous. You will have hundreds of thousands of people being stuck in wrong parts of the world without any certainty as to when they can move,” UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland told Reuters.
He added that the disruption creates both immediate operational chaos and longer-term ripple effects across global aviation networks.
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No timeline for reopening
“Passengers and airlines can expect airspace to be shut for quite some time,” Eric Schouten, head of aviation security advisory Dyami, told Reuters, indicating closures may persist depending on security developments.
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency recommended airlines avoid the affected airspace during the ongoing military intervention, Reuters reported.
As of now, officials have not provided a specific date for reopening UAE airspace. Airlines and passengers are awaiting further updates as the situation evolves.