Airlines Cancel Middle East Flights Amid Rising Tensions

Airlines’ suspensions underscore fears of broader regional fallout following U.S. strikes amid Iran-Israel tensions.

Major global airlines extend flight cancellations to Persian Gulf, disrupting key hubs like Dubai after U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear sites and Tehran’s vow of retaliation.

Singapore Airlines (SIA) said that it would suspend service to Dubai until Wednesday (Jun 25) night and warned more flights could be scrapped due to the fluidity of the situation.

British Airways (BA) added cancellations to Dubai and Doha, while Air France-KLM reportedly will scrap flights to Dubai and Riyadh.

Dubai—home to Emirates—and Doha, Qatar’s capital and aviation powerhouse, serve as vital crossroads for global travel between Asia, Europe, and North America. While earlier flight suspensions were limited to airspace near Israel and missile corridors over Iran, both hubs had remained unaffected—until now.

“A widening conflict around the Strait of Hormuz could threaten to disrupt global airline traffic, particularly if flight restrictions to key transfer hubs in Qatar and the UAE were to occur,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Eric Zhu and George Ferguson wrote in a note.

Excluding local carriers, Indian airlines including IndiGo, Turkish Airlines and British Airways are among the most exposed, they wrote.

Asian airlines have also taken steps to safeguard passengers and crews. Japan Airlines plans to have flights between Tokyo’s Haneda airport and Doha avoid airspace above the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, adding about 20 minutes to journeys. Air India will progressively avoid the use of certain airspace over the Persian Gulf in the coming days.

The closures have forced airlines to cancel flights on profitable routes, spend more on jet fuel and pass through countries they usually avoid like Afghanistan. It has also meant hundreds of disrupted flights and thousands of stranded passengers.