Travelers are in limbo as airport departure boards flip to red after air strikes in Iran resulted in closed airspace and triggered mass flight cancellations.
The heart of the chaos is in the Middle East, where airports in Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi serve as megahubs for global connecting traffic. As of Sunday, all flights in and out of Dubai International Airport — the world’s busiest airport for international travelers — remain suspended until further notice. Passengers are being advised not to travel to the airport.
Data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium shows their home airlines — Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways — carry a combined 90,000 transit passengers a day.
That figure does not include the thousands of travelers whose final destination is the Middle East.
The three major Middle Eastern airlines shared status updates on…
