Middle East airports disrupted as Iran-Israel conflict escalates
Airports in the Middle East were warning of canceled and delayed flights on Monday as nations' airspaces closed and planes routed away from the widening Iran-Israel conflict, reported the Associated Press, citing flight data.
According to X posts from Flightradar24, airspace in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates were closed at various points on Monday.
Flightradar24 posted at about noon Eastern time that Qatar was temporarily closing its airspace, with about 100 flights bound for Doha at the time; it later said that UAE airspace was "closed" but at about 3 p.m. Eastern, it posted that UAE flights were "moving again."
The closures came as Iran attacked a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday, following missile attacks in Iran and Israel.
In a post on its website, Qatar Airways said that its airspace was reopening after a temporary suspension of flights. It warned of "significant delays" to its schedule.
It also rescheduled a number of flights over the coming weeks and urged passengers to verify flight departure times.
Emirates said on Monday that a number of its flights had been rerouted while traveling to Dubai but that there were "no diversions."
"After a thorough and careful risk assessment, Emirates will continue to operate flights as scheduled, using flight paths well distanced from conflict areas," the airline said. "Some flights may incur delays due to longer reroutings or airspace congestion."
Carriers not from the Middle East were also impacted. For example, according to Flightradar24, Qantas flights from Perth bound for London and Paris were diverted, likely to Singapore.
Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv remained closed.
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