Many countries in the Middle East shut their airspaces by late Monday, as Iran struck Al Udeid airbase in Qatar, the largest United States military base in the region, disrupting global aviation traffic.
Airlines cancelled or rerouted several flights to and from the Middle East as Qatar’s Doha airport temporarily halted operations on Monday. Iran said it was retaliating against the US strikes on its nuclear sites over the weekend.
Shortly after the Iranian attack on the US airbase in Qatar, President Donald Trump said Iran and Israel had agreed to a “complete and total” ceasefire. Though Iran and Israel independently said they had agreed to the ceasefire, their exchange of missile fire continued on Tuesday.
Since June 13, when Israel launched its wave of attacks on Iran, more than 400 Iranians have been killed and at least 3,056 others wounded, while at least 24 Israelis have been killed in Iranian retaliatory strikes.
Amid the intense conflict, air traffic in the region thinned dramatically, including over Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan, in addition to the Palestinian territory, Iran, and Israel.
So, are airlines stopping flights to the Middle East? What is the importance of this aviation zone? And how long can airlines suspend flights to parts of the Middle East?
Are flights to the Middle East destinations suspended?
On Monday evening, Qatar temporarily shut its airspace before Iranian attacks on the Al Udeid airbase. Qatar Airways suspended all flights. Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Iraq quickly followed suit, closing their skies as a precaution.
Qatar subsequently reopened its airspace after midnight, but Qatar Airways was grappling with a long backlog of flights departing from Doha.
It was the latest chapter in a series of disruptions to aviation in the region since Israel attacked Iran on June 13. The initial Israeli attacks forced Iran, Iraq, and Jordan to close their airspaces.
After the hostilities began, Israel’s main airport, Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv, was shut, and its flag-carrier, El Al, suspended all flights to and from Israel. On Tuesday morning, Israel Airports Authority said the country’s airspace reopened for emergency flights following an earlier closure amid an hours-long barrage of missiles from Iran.
Meanwhile, as Israel and Iran continued to launch missiles at each other since June 13, hundreds of flights that were scheduled to pass through the Middle East were cancelled or diverted.
- Following the Iranian attack on Monday, Air India halted its entire service to the Middle East, affecting routes to Europe and the US East Coast.
- IndiGo, along with several European and Asian carriers, including British Airways, Air France, KLM, Singapore Airlines, and Etihad, cancelled or diverted flights to Gulf hubs like Doha, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Riyadh, and Dammam.
- Australia-bound flights were rerouted or delayed — the country’s foreign minister confirmed “disruptions to flights with temporary airspace closures in the region”.
- British Airways and Air France-KLM cancelled flights on their Dubai, Doha, and Riyadh routes over the weekend, allowing passengers to rebook on revised schedules.
- One British Airways flight from London to Dubai was diverted to Zurich after entering Saudi airspace, while another was forced to return to Heathrow after reaching Egyptian airspace. The airline has also suspended services to Bahrain, with flights to some Gulf destinations paused until at least the end of June.
- Singapore Airlines has suspended its Singapore-Dubai service after a security review.
- American Airlines has suspended flights to Qatar, and United Airlines to Dubai.
- Lufthansa has suspended its flights to Tehran and Tel Aviv and has said it will avoid Iranian, Iraqi, and Israeli airspace.
After Qatar reopened its airspace on Tuesday, as the ceasefire discussions progressed, Qatar Airways issued a statement saying it had deployed additional ground staff at its Hamad airport to assist affected passengers and minimise disruption.
What about regional airlines?
Emirates announced it has “temporarily suspended all flights” to Tehran, Baghdad, and Basra through June 30. FlyDubai also halted services to Iran, Iraq, Israel, and Syria until late June.
Qatar Airways posted a notice that it had “temporarily cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq and Syria”. It cited the “current situation in the region”, emphasising passenger and crew safety. The airline has stated that it “fully complies with international aviation regulations for safe aircraft routes”.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways said it suspended its entire Abu Dhabi-Tel Aviv schedule until July 15. The airline confirmed in a statement that it is “assisting affected guests with alternative travel arrangements” and warned that further schedule disruptions could occur; it reiterated that “the safety of our guests and crew remains our highest priority”.
Other regional carriers have acted similarly: Oman’s SalamAir suspended all flights to Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan through June 30 “due to the evolving regional situation”, and Air India diverted or turned back several flights that normally cross Iranian airspace.
Why are airlines suspending or rerouting flights?
Global aviation safety bodies, including Safe Airspace, have issued alerts over heightened risks after the US strikes and the potential for Iranian retaliation. The organisation has said ongoing missile and drone activity in the region presents a threat to commercial flights, particularly those operated by US-based airlines.
The region, Iran in particular, has a history of deadly aviation incidents brought about by military tensions.
In 1988, an Iran Air flight was shot down by a US naval ship. US forces had breached Iranian waters and fired at the civilian flight IR655, headed to Dubai on July 8. All 290 people on board were killed. The US, which claimed it was a mistake, however, did not apologise formally or claim responsibility.
In January 2020, an Iranian missile accidentally brought down a Ukrainian passenger jet, killing 176 people, again amid heightened tensions between Tehran and Washington. The US had assassinated Iranian general Qassem Soleimani days earlier.
How important is the Middle East as an aviation corridor?
It is vital for global aviation, said Alex Macheras, an aviation analyst and consultant based in the Middle East.
“When access to this corridor is disrupted, there is an immediate global ripple effect: aircraft are pushed further south, flight times stretch, and costs surge,” Macheras told Al Jazeera. “For airlines, time is money — and detours cost both.”
The importance of the Middle East air corridor as a transit route for flights between Europe and Asia has grown further after Russian and Ukrainian airspace largely became off-limits for international carriers following Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. As a result, Europe-Asia flights have been squeezed into just a few narrow channels, passing through the Middle East.
“Iranian and Iraqi skies sit on the natural axis between east and west, offering the most direct path for passenger and cargo flights linking Europe with South Asia, Southeast Asia, and beyond,” Macheras said.
Now, with these air corridors affected too, airlines and passengers should brace for impact, say experts. Rerouting flights increases flight time, fuel burn, and crew costs. A potential spike in oil prices after the US attacks on Iran will also affect the airlines’ fuel costs.
However, Macheras added, it is important to remember that the regional airlines have been here before.
“This isn’t new territory. Whether it’s airspace closures, geopolitical flashpoints, or unexpected security escalations, the Gulf carriers have developed the operational maturity to respond with speed and precision,” he noted.
In fact, carriers are already adapting.
How are airlines adapting to the new crisis?
While there is almost no air traffic over Iran, Iraq, Syria or Israel now, Macheras said, “Saudi airspace has become the region’s new backbone, absorbing east-west traffic displaced from Iran and Iraq.”
Recent flight-tracking data highlight the congestion shift. Flightradar24 reports that daily overflights of Saudi Arabia roughly doubled from about 700 in mid-May to 1,400 per day after Iran and Iraq closed their skies on June 13.
Macheras noted that regional airlines have adapted to this situation in recent years by smoothly shifting wide-body traffic through this corridor. “The result: passengers experience no delay, no disruption, and no visible sign of what’s happening above. It’s all done in a way that shields the passenger from the chaos unfolding around it,” he said.
Flights over Afghanistan, a lesser-used corridor, spiked by nearly 500 percent after June 13, from about 50 to 280 flights daily.
Meanwhile, several Europe-Asia flights are now being rerouted north via the Caspian Sea — through Turkiye, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan — or south via the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia.
Regional carriers have also issued travel advisories and revised their schedules in response to airspace closures. Some carriers have quietly rerouted flights without public pronouncements.
None of this is surprising, said Macheras.
“For Gulf carriers specifically, adaptation is no longer reactive,” he said. “It’s embedded. The systems are now built for it.”
