Airspace closes across the Middle East following Iran-Israel strikes: The latest updates
March 1, 2026
The United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Iraq and Qatar have all closed their airspaces following the intensification of the conflict between Iran and Israel. On Saturday morning, the United States and Israel launched strikes against several cities in Iran, which were met with retaliatory missiles.
Iran and Israel both closed their airspaces, resulting in heavy disruption. However, this disruption will further intensify – and will have impacts globally – as more countries in the region close their airspaces.
Iran is now targeting US airbases across the region, with explosions in Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and other countries.
Bahrain’s National Communication Centre confirmed that a missile attack was perpetrated against the service centre of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet located in the country. “The public is urged to follow instructions issued by the relevant official authorities and to obtain information from official sources only,” it said.
Which countries have closed their airspaces?
The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, Israel and Iran have closed their airspaces at the time of publication on Saturday. The UAE said in a statement that it had temporarily and “partially” closed its airspace as a precautionary measure.
It is worth noting that the country is home to Dubai and Abu Dhabi, which are among the busiest airports in the world. This will undoubtedly mean that disruption will spread beyond the region’s borders.
Escalations in the conflict have meant alarms were sounding in Bahrain and Qatar. Subsequently, citizens have been asked to shelter in place, and the airspace has been closed. Syrian airspace also appears to be largely closed.
The airspace over both countries has already cleared.
Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad confirm the suspension of all flights
In a statement published on social media, Qatar Airways confirmed that it would be suspending all its flights “to, and from, Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace.”
It added that it was working “closely with government stakeholders and the relevant authorities to support impacted passengers and will resume operations when the airspace re-opens.”
It expects disruption to continue once the airspace has reopened, and has committed to deploy “additional ground staff at Hamad International Airport and other key airports to assist affected passengers.” Qatar Airways hopes to provide an additional update at 09:00 Doha time on Monday.
Etihad Airways and Emirates have also suspended all services to their hubs, Abu Dhabi and Dubai, respectively.
In its latest update, Etihad said that it would suspend all departures and arrivals before 02:00 UAE time on Monday, 2 March. Emirates (and subsidiary flyDubai) confirmed that it has suspended all flights until 2 March at 15:00 UAE time. Reports also suggest that Emirates is asking passengers with bookings prior to 5 March to rebook or request a refund.
Other airlines in the region have also grounded all flights. This includes Kuwait Airways that announced all inbound and outbound flights would be postponed until further notice.
Some airlines are suspending flights to the Middle East for several days
In statements released on social media, most non-Middle Eastern carriers have confirmed that they are suspending flights to destinations in the region for several days. Given the uncertainty, this is understandable. This publication has provided a non-exhaustive summary of the latest available flight status information for international airlines below.
| Airline | Destination(s) | Latest status update* |
|---|---|---|
| airBaltic | Dubai | Suspended until 3 March |
| airBaltic | Tel Aviv | Suspended until 5 March |
| Air India | Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Jeddah, Riyadh, Tel Aviv | Suspended until 3 March |
| IndiGo | Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Al-Fujairah, Jeddah, Kuwait, Muscat, Medinah, Ras Al Khaimah, Riyadh, Sharjah | Suspended until 3 March |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Amman, Tel Aviv, Dammam, Beirut | Suspended today, no further update. |
| Air France | Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai, Riyadh | Suspended until 3 March. |
| British Airways | Tel Aviv, Bahrain | Suspended until 4 March. |
| Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways) | Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil, Dammam, Tehran | Suspended until 8 March. |
| Lufthansa Group (Lufthansa, Austrian, SWISS, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings, ITA Airways) | Dubai and Abu Dhabi | Suspended until 4 March. |
| KLM | Dubai, Riyadh, Dammam | Suspended until 5 March. |
| KLM | Tel Aviv | Route suspended entirely. |
| Air Europa | Tel Aviv | Suspended until 4 March. |
| Iberia Express | Tel Aviv | Suspended until 10 March. |
| Iberia | Doha | Diverted on Saturday but suspension unclear. |
| Wizz Air | Tel Aviv, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Amman | Suspended until 7 March. |
| Virgin Atlantic | Riyadh | Suspended until 2 March. |
| Virgin Atlantic | Dubai | Suspended until 1 March. |
| Aegean Airlines | Tel Aviv, Beirut, Erbil, Baghdad | Suspended until 3 March. |
| Aegean Airlines | Dubai and Abu Dhabi | Suspended until 3 March. |
| Finnair | Doha and Dubai | Suspended until 6 March. |
| Air Canada | Tel Aviv | Suspended until 8 March. |
| Air Canada | Dubai | Suspended until 3 March. |
| United Airlines | Tel Aviv | Suspended until 5 March. |
| United Airlines | Dubai | Suspended until 2 March. |
| Srilankan Airlines | Dubai, Riyadh, Doha, Dammam | Suspended until 2 March. |
Air India has also had to cancel flights to Europe and North America
In a statement released on social media, Air India confirmed that its operations to North America and Europe were being impacted by the situation in the Middle East. It confirmed that it would have to cancel select flights to Birmingham, Zurich and Copenhagen on 2 March. The airline’s services to New York-JFK and Newark Liberty are operating with a technical stop in Rome Fiumicino, it added.
Earlier this weekend, it was forced to make several flight cancellations in Europe as well. Aside from suspending all services to the Middle East, it also cancelled some flights to and from London, Birmingham, Amsterdam, Zurich, Milan, Vienna, Copenhagen and Frankfurt, among many others. Its flights to Chicago. Newark and New York-JFK were also impacted.
In a statement, the company said: “Air India continues to closely monitor the situation and has carefully assessed the evolving circumstances across multiple parameters, including safety, security, airspace availability, and operational feasibility, before deciding on these operations for 2 March 2026.”
Dubai International & Abu Dhabi airports were also targeted
Abu Dhabi Airport confirmed that a drone targeting the facility was intercepted. However, it also confirmed that “falling debris” as a result killed one person and injured a further seven.
In a statement, it said: “Authorities in Abu Dhabi are responding to an incident resulting from the interception of a drone that targeted Zayed International Airport. The interception led to falling debris, which resulted in one fatality of an Asian national and seven injuries.”
Four staff members were injured at Dubai Airport after an “incident” damaged the facility. Footage on social media shows passengers running from a smoke-filled area.
In a statement, the airport said a concourse “sustained minor damage in an incident, which was quickly contained.” It added that emergency response teams were “immediately deployed” and said most terminals were already clear of passengers due to “contingency plans already in place”.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
Featured image: Emirates
