Operations at two of the world’s busiest airports in Doha and Dubai slowed to a crawl yesterday as thousands of travellers queued for hours, facing long delays and flight cancellations after the temporary closure of airspace a day earlier.
Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait shut their airspace late on Monday after Iran’s strike on a US military base in Doha, forcing airlines to cancel or reroute hundreds of flights and creating a backlog of stranded passengers.
Airports across Dubai briefly halted operations.
US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was in place and asked both sides not to violate it, raising hopes of an end to the 12-day war, but hostilities continued, with deadly attacks reported in both countries.
“I haven’t slept for 19 hours. And I’ve been in this line over nine hours,” said Lily Rogers, 21, who was in an around 200m queue in Doha’s Hamad International airport.
The psychology student, en route to an holiday in Southeast Asia, said those in line were only given water during the wait.
Virgin Australia estimated that more than 25,000 passengers were stranded at Doha airport.
Lines were so long that arguments broke out as some passengers jumped queues, according to a Reuters witness.
Around 250 flights were cancelled at Hamad International Airport, while another 238 were delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Long queues formed also at Dubai International, the busiest airport in the world, where about 145 flights were cancelled and more than 450 delayed, FlightRadar24 data showed.
Qatar Airways said it was ‘making progress in restoring its schedule’ with possible disruptions until June 26.
Dubai Airports and the Dubai government media office were not immediately available for comment.
Airports in the Middle East are some of the busiest in the world, covering an area stretching from Iran and Iraq to the Mediterranean and serving as a connecting hub for flights between Europe and Asia.
The region has also taken on a more important role since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, which has forced airlines to avoid airspace over both countries.
Dubai transported 92.3 million passengers last year, with a daily average of more than 250,000.
Israel’s strikes against Iran on June 13 already prompted airlines from British Airways to Lufthansa to halt flights to some Middle East destinations due to air space closures and safety concerns.
Following the US attacks on Iran on Sunday, many have also cut flights to typically resilient hubs such as Dubai.
The restrictions and closures have created ripple effects beyond the region, as most passenger traffic transits through Hamad airport to other destinations, said Asia-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie.
Only 22 per cent of passengers travelling through the airport had Qatar as their final destination in 2024, airport data shows.
On Monday, Air India suspended flights to and from the US East Coast, Canada and Europe, which involve a tight corridor between those destinations and the Indian subcontinent.
That poses a challenge for Indian carriers because they do not have access to Pakistani airspace, analysts say. The two neighbours blocked access to each other’s airspace in April after a brief military conflict.
Air India said yesterday it would resume those flights as soon as airspaces reopen, while other carriers such as flydubai warned that delays would persist due to airspace congestion.
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