Airspace across the Middle East shut down on February 28 after the United States and Israel launched coordinated military strikes on Iran, with Iranian retaliatory missiles hitting Gulf states including Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar, triggering the most severe disruption to commercial aviation in the region in years.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar all closed or heavily restricted their airspace, Reuters reported on February 28, with flight-tracking service Flightradar24 confirming that Iranian skies were virtually empty within hours of the first strikes. The closures affected one of the world’s most critical aviation corridors, through which thousands of flights between Europe and Asia transit each year.
The Lufthansa Group was among the first major carriers to announce suspensions, halting all flight services to and from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion Airport through March 7. The carrier had already been operating only daytime services to the Israeli city since mid-January, having avoided Iranian airspace entirely since the protests that erupted across Iran in late 2025. Air Arabia cancelled all flights to Iran, Iraq and other parts of the region scheduled for February 28, citing airspace closures and evolving security concerns. KLM, the Dutch arm of Air France-KLM (ACA on Euronext Paris), brought forward the suspension of its Amsterdam–Tel Aviv service, cancelling the flight already scheduled for February 28 after initially announcing the halt from March 1.
Turkish Airlines cancelled all flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran and Jordan until March 2, its senior vice president for communications, Yahya Ustun, confirmed. The carrier also cancelled all services to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman scheduled for February 28. Oman Air suspended all flights to Baghdad. FlyDubai said “some flights have been impacted” following the UAE’s partial and temporary closure of its airspace.
Emirates and Qatar Airways — two of the largest connectors between Europe and Asia — suspended operations to and from their respective hubs of Dubai and Doha, and had already begun rerouting long-haul services to avoid Iranian and Iraqi airspace. Reuters reported that flight maps showed diversions running south over Saudi Arabia or north via Central Asia, adding significant block time to affected routes and creating risks of missed onward connections for transit passengers. Virgin Atlantic said it was avoiding Iraqi airspace, resulting in re-routing of some of its services. Air India was forced to divert its Delhi–Tel Aviv service mid-flight on February 28, turning the aircraft back to Mumbai after Israeli airspace was shut.
The closures compounded a problem that has been building for months. With Russian and Ukrainian airspace closed to most airlines since 2022, Iran’s corridor had become a key alternative for Europe-to-Asia routing. Airlines that had already been avoiding it since the January 2026 protests — paying penalties of USD15,000 to USD30,000 per flight in additional fuel costs by diverting via Afghanistan and Central Asia — now faced a total regional shutdown. The European Union Aviation Safety Agency had already extended guidance advising EU carriers to avoid Iranian airspace, with a UK NOTAM issued separately warning British operators to stay clear.
The UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office updated its travel advice on February 28, advising against all travel to Israel and Palestine. “Due to the threat posed by escalation in the region, we recommend against all travel to Israel and Palestine,” the FCDO stated on its website. “On 28 February 2026, the US and Israel commenced joint military action in Iran, Israeli airspace has now closed.” British nationals in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE were urged to find shelter immediately. The FCDO separately continued to advise against all travel to Iran, a position it has maintained since anti-government protests erupted in December 2025.
Qatar Airways had already announced on February 24 — four days before the strikes — the suspension of most flights to and from Iran until June 30, maintaining only a limited daily service between Doha and Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. That decision, widely noted in aviation circles, took on new significance in light of the February 28 events.
The tourism sector across the Gulf faces acute near-term pressure. Israel welcomed approximately 1.3 mn visitors in 2025, according to Travel and Tour World, with the United States, France and the United Kingdom among its largest source markets. Iran had received 7.4 mn foreign visitors during the Iranian year spanning March 2024 to March 2025, though that figure had already been declining amid civil unrest. International hotel groups including Hilton, Marriott and Accor, all of which operate extensively across Tel Aviv, Dubai, Doha and Riyadh, are now monitoring cancellation patterns. Flexible booking policies are being activated across the region, and conference and MICE business is expected to shift to alternative destinations in Europe or other parts of Asia.
Iran’s near-total internet blackout — confirmed at 4% of normal connectivity by network monitor NetBlocks — is creating additional chaos for travellers and airlines in the country. Passengers cannot check flight status online, and airports in Tehran, Isfahan and other affected cities have suspended civilian operations until further notice.
The scale and duration of military operations are likely to determine whether disruptions remain acute or deepen. Trump described the US campaign as “massive and ongoing” and said the US was “planning for several days of attacks,” NPR reported on February 28. Israel declared a nationwide state of emergency and said operations would continue “as long as necessary.”