Global air travel remained heavily disrupted on Sunday as the war in Iran kept major Middle Eastern airports, including Dubai, the world's busiest international hub, closed for a second day in one of the sharpest aviation shocks in recent years. Key transit airports, including Abu Dhabi in the UAE and Doha in Qatar, were closed or severely restricted.

The Sultanate of Oman was also affected in terms of flight cancellations at 25.81%.

Oman Air and SalamAir reported that their flights to the East, including the Indian subcontinent, from Muscat have not been canceled. The Omani airspace has not been closed, though flight movements have been affected due to restrictions.

Qatar Airways, which has suspended all operations, said it would provide a further update on Monday, and Germany's Lufthansa extended its suspension of flights to the region to March 8.

Due to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has temporarily suspended all operations to and from Dubai until 3 pm on March 2.

Dubai's international airport, which handles more than 1,000 flights a day, sustained damage during an attack on Sunday and will remain closed until further notice.

According to Cirium, the aviation analytics company, 1,579 flights (arrivals to the GCC airports) were officially canceled in the two days out of 3,990 scheduled flights in the Middle East. Many airlines have not officially canceled their schedules, but those flights, by and large, will not operate.

As of Sunday evening, the UAE saw 70.54% of its total scheduled flights cancelled, while Qatar 85.10%, Bahrain 92.47%, Jordan 38.57%, and Egypt 8.95% of flights cancelled.

At Doha’s Hamad International Airport, gates were nearly empty as stranded passengers queued to make hotel arrangements, a Reuters witness said. As countries in the region closed their airspace, aircraft were forced to divert around Larnaca, Jeddah, Cairo, and Riyadh.

2026 © All right reserved for Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising (OEPPA) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).