Flight Chaos Hits Doha and Dubai After Airspace Closure

Photo: Reuters

Operations at two of the world’s busiest airports—Doha and Dubai—were badly affected on Tuesday. Thousands of travelers faced long lines, flight cancellations, and major delays due to the temporary closure of airspace after a recent military conflict.

The airspace over Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait was shut late Monday night after Iran launched a missile strike on a U.S. military base in Doha, Qatar. This forced many airlines to cancel or change routes for hundreds of flights, leaving a huge number of passengers stranded.

Airports in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, also briefly stopped operations. The situation added to the pressure on already crowded terminals.

U.S. President Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel, but despite the announcement, both countries continued to launch deadly attacks on each other.

Passengers in Doha's Hamad International Airport shared their frustration. One of them, Lily Rogers, a 21-year-old psychology student heading for vacation in Southeast Asia, said she stood in line for over nine hours with no food, only being given water.

Virgin Australia estimated that over 25,000 passengers were stranded at Doha airport alone. Fights even broke out in the long lines, with some people trying to skip ahead.

According to FlightRadar24, around 250 flights were cancelled and 238 were delayed in Doha. At Dubai International Airport, 145 flights were cancelled and more than 450 were delayed.

Qatar Airways said it’s slowly getting back on track, but flight disruptions may continue until June 26. However, Dubai airport officials did not comment on the situation.

These Middle Eastern airports are major travel hubs, connecting flights between Europe and Asia. They’ve become even more important since airlines began avoiding Russian and Ukrainian airspace due to the ongoing war there.

Dubai alone handled over 92 million passengers in 2023, with more than 250,000 travelers per day.

Earlier, airlines like British Airways and Lufthansa had already stopped flying to some destinations in the Middle East over safety concerns. After the U.S. strike on Iran on Sunday, more flights to even popular places like Dubai were cancelled.

The closure is affecting air traffic beyond the Middle East too. For example, only 22% of travelers at Doha Airport actually stay in Qatar; most are just passing through to other destinations.

On Monday, Air India also cancelled flights to Canada, Europe, and the U.S. East Coast because of airspace restrictions. Indian airlines are struggling even more since they can’t use Pakistani airspace after a recent military conflict between India and Pakistan.

Air India said it will resume flights once the airspace reopens, while other airlines like flydubai warned that delays will continue because of the air traffic buildup.

“I’ve been stuck here for 15 hours,” said Julien Moutte, a passenger flying to Paris. “It’s very frustrating.”