Stranded passengers stand in line on the Qatar Airways customer support at I Gusti Ngurah Rai Worldwide Airport after flights to Doha, Dubai, and Abu Dhabi had been cancelled following strikes on Iran launched by the USA and Israel, in Kuta, Bali, Indonesia, March 1, 2026.
| Photograph Credit score: Reuters
World air journey remained closely disrupted on Sunday (March 1, 2026) as continued air strikes stored main Center Japanese airports, together with Dubai, the world’s busiest worldwide hub, closed in one of many sharpest aviation shocks lately.
Iran-Israel battle LIVE
Key transit airports, together with Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Doha in Qatar, had been shut or severely restricted as a lot of the area’s airspace remained closed, with the Gulf grappling with uncertainty after U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday (February 28, 2026).
Israel stated it launched one other wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday (March 1, 2026), whereas loud blasts had been heard for a second day close to Dubai and over Doha, after Iran launched retaliatory air assaults on the neighbouring Gulf states.
Dubai Worldwide Airport sustained injury throughout Iran’s assaults, whereas airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait had been additionally hit. Hundreds of flights have been affected throughout the Center East because the U.S. first launched assaults on Iran on Saturday (February 28, 2026), in keeping with knowledge on FlightAware, a flight monitoring platform.
Ripple results
The airport closures have rippled far past the Center East. Dubai and neighbouring Doha sit on the crossroads of east-west air journey, funnelling long-haul visitors between Europe and Asia via tightly scheduled networks of connecting flights. With these hubs idle, plane and crews remained stranded out of place, disrupting airline schedules worldwide.
“It’s the sheer quantity of individuals and the complexity,” stated U.Okay.-based aviation analyst John Strickland.
“It isn’t solely clients, it’s the crews and plane throughout place.”
Airways throughout Europe, Asia and the Center East cancelled or rerouted flights to keep away from closed or restricted airspace, lengthening journeys and driving up gasoline prices. The disruption has been intensified by the lack of Iranian and Iraqi overflight routes, which had grown extra vital since the Russia-Ukraine struggle pressured airways to keep away from each international locations’ airspace.
The Center East airspace closures had been squeezing airways into narrower corridors, with combating between Pakistan and Afghanistan including an additional danger, stated Ian Petchenik, communications director at Flightradar24.
“The danger of protracted disruption is the primary concern from a business aviation perspective,” Mr. Petchenik stated.
“Any escalation within the battle between Pakistan and Afghanistan that ends in the closure of airspace would have drastic penalties for journey between Europe and Asia.”
Revealed – March 01, 2026 01:04 pm IST