Middle East Flights Resume as Travelers Remain Stranded

Limited commercial flights out of the Middle East resumed on Monday Mar. 2, but hundreds of thousands of travelers remain stranded at key aviation hubs after U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran triggered widespread airspace closures and mass cancellations.

Tourists and business travelers have been sheltering in hotels and airport terminals across the region, waiting for confirmation that airports will fully reopen and schedules return to normal. Many flights continue to be canceled with little notice, leaving passengers scrambling for alternatives.

“We’re waiting to fly out. Our flights keep getting canceled,” said Kristy Ellmer of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, who traveled to Dubai last week for business meetings and is now uncertain when she will be able to return home. “We’ve had flights booked every day for the week. Sunday was canceled. Monday was canceled. Tuesday’s already been canceled. We’re hoping the Wednesday flight stays.”

Live Tracker: Airport and Flight Delays – Middle East Air Travel Chaos as Iran Attacks

Emirates said it would resume operating a limited number of flights on Monday evening, prioritizing customers with earlier bookings. However, the airline cautioned that most services remain suspended until further notice as security conditions continue to evolve.

More than 3,400 flights were canceled across the Middle East on Monday alone, according to flight-tracking site Flightradar24. That brings the total number of cancellations since the conflict escalated to nearly 10,000, underscoring the scale of disruption to global air travel.

Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha serve as critical transit hubs linking Europe and the Americas with Africa and Asia. Authorities in those cities reported being targeted by Iranian strikes aimed at civilian and military sites in U.S.-aligned Gulf states.

Dubai International Airport, one of the world’s busiest, said operations resumed with a small number of flights on Monday evening, days after social media footage showed passengers evacuating smoke-filled corridors following a suspected drone strike. Abu Dhabi’s airport also resumed partial operations, with Etihad Airways among the first carriers to restart departures. Doha’s main airport said flights remain temporarily suspended.

It remains unclear how many international passengers are still stranded. Aviation analytics firm Cirium estimates that roughly 90,000 passengers transit daily through the region’s major hubs on Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways alone.

With airspace closures still in effect and ongoing military activity in the region, further cancellations appear likely. For now, travelers face continued uncertainty as airlines and governments assess security conditions and gradually restore operations.

Live Tracker: Airport and Flight Delays – Middle East Air Travel Chaos as Iran Attacks

Sources: AirGuide Business airguide.info, bing.com