Middle East airports have been closed since the attacks on Iran, leaving thousands of passengers stranded

London — The attack on Iran by the United States and Israel disrupted flights across the Middle East and beyond on Saturday as countries around the region closed their airspace and major airports connecting Europe, Africa and the West to Asia were hit directly by the strikes.

Airports across the Middle East were closed on Sunday as the conflict entered a second day. Emirates Airlines has suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Sunday afternoon. According to Qatar Airways, Qatar Airport is closed until at least Monday morning. Israeli airspace was closed on Sunday.

The closure has stranded tens of thousands of travelers around the world.

Millions of passengers were stranded or evacuated to other airports on Saturday after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. There was no flight activity over the United Arab Emirates, flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government there announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace.

It led to the closure of major hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha and the cancellation of more than 1,800 flights by major Middle Eastern airlines. The three major airlines operating at those airports — Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad — typically handle about 90,000 passengers a day through those hubs, with many more going to destinations in the Middle East, according to aviation analytics firm Sirius.

Two airports in the United Arab Emirates reported the incidents, and the government there condemned what it called an “unprovoked attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles” on Saturday.

Officials at Dubai International Airport – the United Arab Emirates’ largest and one of the world’s busiest – said four people were injured, while Abu Dhabi’s Zayed International Airport said one person was killed and seven were injured in a drone strike. Strikes were also reported at Kuwait International Airport.

Although Iran has not publicly claimed responsibility, it has previously said that the scope of retaliatory strikes attributed to Iran by Gulf states extended beyond US bases.

“For passengers, there’s no way to sugarcoat this,” said Henry Harteveld, an airline industry analyst and president of the Atmospheric Research Group. “You should be prepared for delays or cancellations over the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.”

Airlines crossing the Middle East have to reroute flights around the conflict, with many heading south over Saudi Arabia. That adds hours to those flights and uses extra fuel, adding to the costs for airlines to absorb. So ticket prices could start rising quickly if the clash continues.

The added flights put pressure on air traffic controllers in Saudi Arabia, who may have to slow traffic to ensure they can handle it safely. And countries that have closed their airspace lose overflight fees that airlines pay for overhead crossings.

But Mike McCormick, who oversaw the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control before retiring and is now a professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, said the countries would be able to reopen parts of their airspace in the next few days, US and Israeli officials said.

“Those countries will then be able to go and say, OK, we can reopen this part of our space but we’ll close this part of our airspace,” McCormick said. “So I think over the next 24 to 36 hours we’ll see how the use of airspace evolves as the kinetic activity becomes more well defined and Iran’s ability to actually shoot missiles and create an additional threat is reduced because of the attack.”

But it is not clear how long the disruption to flight operations could last. For comparison, the Israeli and US attack on Iran in June 2025 lasted 12 days.

The situation is changing fast and airlines have urged passengers to check their flight status online before heading to the airport.

Some airlines have given waivers to affected passengers, allowing them to rebook their flight plans without paying additional charges or higher fares.

Jonathan Escott and his fiance arrived at the airport in Newcastle, England on Saturday, only to find that their direct flight to Dubai on Emirates Airlines had been cancelled, leaving everyone on board stranded.

Escott said he was about an hour from the airport to return to where he lives with family, but it is not known when he will be able to travel.

“Nobody knows,” Escott said. “Nobody really knows what’s going on with the conflict. Not Emirates, Emirates doesn’t have a clue. Nobody has a clue.”

According to FlightAware, at least 145 flights bound for cities such as Tel Aviv and Dubai early Saturday were diverted to airports in cities such as Athens, Istanbul or Rome. Others turned back and returned to where they had left. A plane took off from Philadelphia and landed in Spain after being lost in the air for about 15 hours before turning around and returning to where it started.

Several airlines canceled international flights to Dubai through the weekend as India’s civil aviation authority designated much of the Middle East – including skies over Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon – as a high-security risk zone at all altitudes.

Air India has canceled all flights to Middle East destinations. Flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan have been suspended until Monday, and flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman have been suspended, Turkish Airlines said.

The airline said it could announce additional cancellations, and several other airlines are suspending flights to the region through the weekend.

US-based Delta Air Lines and United Airlines have suspended flights to Tel Aviv for at least the weekend. Dutch airline KLM had already announced last week that it would suspend flights to and from Tel Aviv.

Airlines including Lufthansa, Air France, Transavia and Pegasus canceled all flights to Lebanon, while American Airlines suspended flights from Philadelphia to Doha.

Virgin Atlantic avoids flying over Iraq, meaning flights to India, Maldives and Riyadh may take slightly longer. The airline said it was no longer flying over Iran and that all flights would carry suitable fuel in case of short-term rerouting.

British Airways said flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain would be suspended until next week, and flights to Amman, Jordan, were canceled on Saturday.

“Travelers should expect a lot of disruption,” Harteveldt said. “Honestly, if you don’t leave home, you don’t leave home if you have to travel to these places for at least several days or longer. And if you’re going home, you have to be very creative about how you get home.”

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Levy reports from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and Funk reports from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Adam Schreck in Bangkok, Sam Metz in Ramallah, West Bank and Melanie Lidman in Jerusalem contributed.