DUBAI/LONDON — Global aviation has been plunged into a state of paralysis as more than 7,200 flights were cancelled over the weekend and into Monday, March 2, 2026. The unprecedented disruption follows the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the subsequent retaliatory missile barrages that have effectively shuttered the world’s busiest transit corridors.
Data from FlightAware and Cirium indicate a cascading crisis that has left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded across five continents. By Monday morning, airspace over Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, and the UAE remained nearly empty, as civil aviation authorities issued emergency “Notice to Air Missions” (NOTAMs) citing “grave risk to civilian flight safety.”
The Scale of the Shutdown
The impact has hit the region’s “Big Three” carriers—Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways—with devastating force, as their home hubs in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Doha remained largely closed for a third consecutive day.
- Mass Cancellations: On Sunday alone, over 3,100 flights were scrubbed globally, with an additional 1,200+ cancellations recorded in the early hours of Monday morning.
- Hub Paralysis: Dubai International (DXB), the world’s busiest international airport, suspended all operations until at least 3:00 PM local time Monday, while Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International and Doha’s Hamad International faced similar indefinite freezes.
- Regional Ripple Effects: Indian carriers, including Air India and IndiGo, have cancelled nearly 600 flights collectively, with Air India extending its suspension of all services to the Gulf and Israel through midnight on Monday.
Rerouting the World
For flights still operating, the “great bypass” is adding hours to travel times and millions to fuel costs. With the Middle East corridor closed, long-haul flights between Europe and Asia are being rerouted over Central Africa or through a narrow “oceanic route” south of Oman.+1
- Technical Stops: Air India announced that its flagship flights to New York (JFK) and Newark are now operating via technical refueling stops in Rome, as they can no longer overfly the conflict zone.
- European Retreat: Lufthansa has suspended all flights to Dubai until March 4 and to Tel Aviv, Tehran, and Beirut until at least March 8. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have also issued wide-scale cancellations for the week ahead.+1
A Logistic and Economic Blow
Beyond the immediate travel chaos, the grounding of these fleets represents a massive economic shock. Dubai’s Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT) took the exceptional step of ordering local hotels to extend stays for stranded guests at the government’s expense, highlighting the severity of the bottleneck.
As “Operation Epic Fury” enters its most volatile phase, aviation analysts warn that even if airspace reopens tomorrow, the “crew and aircraft displacement” will likely cause rolling delays and cancellations through at least mid-March.
Cancelled Flights Picture from heute.at
