Airline cancellations exceed 15 000 as Iran war enters fifth day

Airlines around the globe are suspending more flights to additional destinations across the Middle East as the expanding war moves into its fifth day.

Qatar Airways extended their service halts into Friday. The disruptions since Iran’s first retaliatory strike are spreading across the region, leading to more than 15 000 flights being cancelled, including at major transfer hubs such as Dubai and Doha, according to data from Flightradar24 and Cirium.

Read: Iraq starts huge oil cuts as Hormuz blockage fills storage
Trump says he’ll cut off trade with Spain over air base use
Diesel soars all over the world as Iran war chokes fuel supplies

“Cancellations will grow for March 4-6,” Cirium said in its data release.

The cancellations will reverberate beyond the current period because they leave planes out of position and crew members in the wrong locations. Tens of thousands of passengers are stranded, so many carriers are running special evacuation flights.

In a sign that the situation is improving slightly, the UAE is starting to establish what it called safe air corridors that will allow for as many as 48 flights an hour, the economy ministry said. More than 80 additional flights are scheduled, with a capacity exceeding 27 000 passengers, the ministry said.

Here is a list of airlines that have announced adjustments to their regional flight schedules:

Air France-KLM

• KLM Royal Dutch Airlines suspended the remainder of its winter season flights to and from Tel Aviv, starting Sunday. It also halted flights to and from Dammam and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Dubai until March 9, according to a notice published on its website.

British Airways

• The airline’s website offers flights between London and Muscat on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with prices starting at £448 ($598).
• Canceled flights to Amman, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv at least through Tuesday.
• The UK government has scheduled one charter flight from Muscat on Wednesday evening, but BA says it’s not operating it.

Cathay Pacific

• Canceled services to and from Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — where the airspace remains open — until March 14.

Delta Airlines

• Flights between New York and Tel Aviv are suspended through March 9, though some partners are operating services, according to its website.

EasyJet

• The low-cost carrier canceled Tuesday flights to Cyprus after drones hit the UK’s Royal Air Force base there.

Emirates

• The world’s largest international airline extended the suspension of flights to and from Dubai until March 4.
• Emirates has scrapped more than 2,000 flights since Saturday, among the most severe disruptions ever for a carrier that prides itself on round-the-clock operations and resilience.
• While the airline has started some limited operations to evacuate people from Dubai, regular commercial flights are canceled.

Etihad

• Extended its suspension of operations until Thursday.

IndiGo

• Budget carrier commenced flights to Athens, Muscat and Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah and Madinah.
• It’s also running select repatriation flights to the UAE, it said in a social media post Wednesday.

Lufthansa Group

• All of its airlines suspended flights to Tel Aviv; Beirut; Amman, Jordan; Erbil, Iraq; Dammam, Saudi Arabia; and Tehran until March 8.
• The group also won’t use the airspace over Israel, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, Dammam and Iran until March 8.
• Flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi are suspended until March 6, and the airspace over the UAE won’t be used during that same period.
• Lufthansa will operate an evacuation flight via Oman in the night of March 4 to March 5 on behalf of the German government, using an Airbus A340-300.

Oman Air

• Extended its cancellations to several destinations across the region, including Dammam, Saudi Arabia, where a Saudi Aramco facility was targeted by Iran on Tuesday.

Qatar Airways

• All operations remain halted until further notice and the airline will provide an update Friday morning.

Russia

• Aeroflot plans two flights to Russia from the UAE on Wednesday for passengers whose flights were canceled Feb. 28, the Russian company says in a statement on Telegram.
• Carrier plans one flight from Dubai to Moscow and one flight from Dubai to Krasnodar.
• About 24 flights from the United Arab Emirates and Oman to Russia were scheduled for Tuesday by Russian and foreign airlines, the nation’s Transport Ministry said.

Virgin Atlantic

• The airline previously suspended flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh starting February 28 through Tuesday. “This remains a fast-moving and unpredictable situation, and further cancellations or schedule changes may be likely over the coming days,” the airline said on its website.

© 2026 Bloomberg