Airspace across 10 countries has been shut following the Iran–Israel war, disrupting thousands of flights and leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded worldwide.
A spokesperson for the Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority said the airspace of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Syria has been completely closed to flight operations.
The spokesperson added that the airspace of the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon and Jordan also remains closed.
Airports across the UAE, including those in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, will remain shut until this afternoon, the spokesperson said.
However, the authority confirmed that Pakistan’s airspace is fully open and safe for all types of flight operations.
Key transit hubs, including Dubai International Airport the world’s busiest international airport as well as Abu Dhabi and Doha, were either shut or operating under severe restrictions as much of the region’s airspace remained closed.
Earlier, Dubai International Airport sustained damage during Iran’s retaliatory attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit.
Dubai and neighbouring Doha sit at the crossroads of east–west air travel, funnelling long-haul traffic between Europe and Asia through tightly scheduled networks of connecting flights. With these hubs idle, aircraft and flight crews were left stranded out of position, triggering widespread disruption to airline schedules across the globe.
“It’s the sheer volume of people and the complexity,” said UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland, highlighting the scale of the crisis facing the global aviation industry.
