Hundreds of thousands of stranded travellers scrambled to make new connections and get through to airlines on jammed phone lines on Sunday after the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel shut down much of the Middle East to air travel.
Tourists and business travellers crowded hotels and airports, with no word on when many airports would reopen or when flights to and through the Middle East would resume. Some governments advised their stranded citizens to shelter in place.
Shutdown airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha — including Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest in the world — are important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and the West to Asia. All three were directly hit by strikes.
Mohammad Abdul Mannan, in the crowd at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Bangladesh, said he wasn’t concerned about the war but that he needs to get his flight to the Middle East to make a living.
“We have set out to go for work, and we must go,” he said. “My only concern is how to go abroad and how to earn an income.”
Confusion reigned for many travellers as they tried to get answers on online portals or through busy phone lines.
In Dubai, stranded travellers could hear fighter jets overhead and an explosion when the Fairmont Palm hotel was hit by a missile strike.
Many were unable to get updated flight information from tour operators or Dubai-based Emirates, which suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Monday afternoon.
Louise Herrle and her husband had their flight to Washington cancelled on their way back to their Pittsburgh home after a tour of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with no word on when they could reschedule.
“We’re in the hotel room, we are not leaving it, so you’re not going to give it up until we know we have a flight out of here,” Herrle said. “I’m sure everyone else is in the same situation.”
Flights cancelled, airports and airspaces closed
Cirium, an aviation analytics firm, said it is hard to calculate the number of travellers stranded worldwide.
However, it estimated that at least 90,000 people alone change flights daily at the airports in Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi on just three airlines: Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad Airways.
Airspace or airports in Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates were closed, according to flight tracking sites and government agencies there.
More than 2,800 flights were cancelled on Sunday to and from airports across the Middle East, including those that remained open in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, according to figures on flight-tracking site FlightAware. International airports in London, Mumbai, Delhi, Bangkok, Istanbul, Sri Lanka and Paris each also reported dozens of cancelled flights.
Cancellations will extend beyond Sunday, at least.
Emirates suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Monday afternoon. Air India suspended all flights to and from the U.A.E., Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar until Tuesday. Israeli airline El Al said it was preparing to fly home Israelis stranded abroad once the airspace reopened, and it closed ticket sales for flights through March 21 to ensure stranded customers get priority.
The United Arab Emirates’ Defence Ministry said Sunday that Iran launched 541 bomb-carrying drones at the U.A.E., of which 506 were intercepted. The remaining 35 struck several locations, including Dubai’s Palm Jumeirah Fairmont Hotel and the Dubai International Airport. Falling debris from the interceptions killed three people and wounded 58 others.
Two airports in the United Arab Emirates reported strikes as the government there condemned what it called a “blatant attack involving Iranian ballistic missiles” on Saturday.
Officials at Dubai International Airport said four people were injured, while Zayed International Airport in Abu Dhabi said one person was killed and seven others were injured in a drone strike. Strikes were also reported at Kuwait International Airport.
Iran did not publicly claim responsibility.
Flight disruptions are likely to continue
Airlines urged passengers to check their flight status online before heading to the airport. Some airlines issued waivers to affected travellers that will allow them to rebook their flight plans without paying extra fees or higher fares. Others offered full refunds.
“For travellers, there’s no way to sugarcoat this,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of Atmosphere Research Group. “You should prepare for delays or cancellations for the next few days as these attacks evolve and hopefully end.”
Mike McCormick, who used to oversee air traffic control for the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, said countries might reopen their airspace once American and Israeli officials tell airlines where military flights are operating and how capable Iran remains at firing missiles.
Airlines rerouting flights to avoid conflict zone
The reverberations echoed far outside the Middle East — for example, airport authorities on the resort island of Bali in Indonesia said more than 1,600 tourists were stranded at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Sunday after five flights to the Middle East were cancelled or postponed.
Airlines that are crossing the Middle East will have to reroute flights around the conflict, with many flights headed south over Saudi Arabia. That will cause delays and higher costs.
Kristy Ellmer, an American who had been on business meetings in Dubai, said she was staying in a hotel and keeping multiple flights booked in case airports reopen. She said she was gaining confidence in the government’s ability to protect the city from missiles but was also keeping away from windows when she hears explosions.
“You hear a lot of explosions at times, there’s hundreds of them,” Ellmer said. “And so when we hear them, we sort of just don’t stay near the windows just in case the glass was to break or there was some impact.”
