Qatar closed its airspace temporarily on Monday as it prepared for Tehran’s attack. Bahrain, the UAE and Kuwait followed swiftly as a precautionary measure.
These Gulf states have reopened their airspace on the same day on Monday and resumed operations after halting flights temporarily, as Iran launched air strikes at a US base in Qatar.
The disruptions lasted several hours and resulted in dozens of aircraft diverting from major aviation hub like Dubai and Doha. The Gulf airspace closures mark the first time in 20 months of conflict in the region that the aviation disruptions have reached Persian states.
Saudi airspace the new hub backbone
An aviation analyst and consultant based in the Middle East was quoted by Al-Jazeera saying that “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. Airlines have adapted to this situation in recent years by smoothly shifting wide-body traffic through this corridor.
Dubai and Egyptian airports
Dubai Airports said its operations had resumed after a brief suspension, though it warned of delays or cancellations on social media site X.
Egypt’s aviation authorities have confirmed that the country’s airspace remains fully operational and unaffected by regional flight disruptions. While airspace closures across the Gulf forced EgyptAir to suspend flights to several cities for a few hours on Monday, the Ministry of Civil Aviation stated later the same day that Egyptian airports were functioning normally, with no interruptions to domestic or international air traffic.
Qatar Airways most impacted
Qatar Airways was most impacted by the disruptions at Doha airport, where closures lasted the longest, as it operates more than 80 per cent of flights at the hub, according to ch-aviation, which compiles industry data.
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, about two dozen flights to Doha, mostly from Qatar Airways, were diverted on Monday, and about a handful of flights to Dubai were diverted due to the airspace closures.
Qatar Airways confirmed it reinstated flights on Tuesday and said the airline deployed extra ground staff at Hamad International Airport to assist in resuming operations.
Qatar Airways also posted a notice that it had temporarily cancelled flights to Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Regional flights impacted
Emirates, the world’s largest international airline, said in a statement that due to “the recent regional situation, a number of flights were rerouted enroute to Dubai on Monday, but there were no diversions.” Emirates also 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. Etihad Airways said it has suspended its entire Abu Dhabi-Tel Aviv schedule until July 15.
Kuwait Airways suspended on Monday its flight departures from the country, while UAE’s Etihad Airways was rerouting flights on Monday and Tuesday. Oman’s SalamAir suspended all flights to Iran, Iraq, and Azerbaijan through June 30
Finnair was the first to announce a prolonged suspension of flights to Doha, with cancellations until June 30. Other airlines like Singapore Airlines, British Airways and more have cancelled flights to the Middle East. Iberia scrapped a plan to resume flights to Doha on Tuesday after the latest airspace closures.
For a comprehensive list of impacted flights, you can visit this link.
