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The joint coordinated airstrike between the US and Israel, which hit Iran on Saturday morning, triggered airspace closures on Saturday, causing airlines to suspend flights to the affected Gulf countries.
News Central earlier reported that explosions were heard across Gulf countries on Saturday as Iranian retaliatory missile and drone strikes hit US military bases in Manama, Kuwait and the UAE.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies in the hours after smoke began rising over Tehran and Iran began retaliatory attacks in the region.
Following this series of events, Air France, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Air Algerie, Kenya Airways, Lufthansa and some national air carriers announced flight suspensions to the affected Gulf countries.
The following airlines suspended/cancelled flights on Saturday:
Qatar Airways
The airline suspended all flights from Doha.
Rosaviatsia
– Russia’s air transport authority, Rosaviatsia, announced that all commercial flights to both Israel and Iran have been cancelled until further notice.
Air India
The Indian national carrier suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East.
Pakistan International Airlines
Pakistan borders Iran. The country’s national carrier said it had suspended flights to the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Doha and Kuwait.
Turkish Airlines
It suspended flights to 10 Middle East nations. The airline’s spokesperson, Yahya Ustun, said flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan have been cancelled until March 2, while flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Oman were only suspended for the day.
Air France
France’s national carrier cancelled its flights to Dubai, Riyadh and Beirut for Saturday and to Tel Aviv until Sunday, adding that it would provide schedule updates later.
British Airways
It informed the public that it would not be flying to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4, and that the flight to the Jordanian capital, Amman, was cancelled on Saturday.
Swiss International Air Lines
The airline is suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7, a total of 14 trips. The Swiss flag carrier was also cancelling the flights from Zurich to Dubai scheduled for today and tomorrow.
Lufthansa
The German airline group cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7. It said in a statement that it and its subsidiaries were also suspending flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until Sunday.
Italy’s ITA Airways
ITA Airways is suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7 and will also not use the airspace of Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan and Lebanon until then. Flights to and from Dubai are also suspended until Sunday.
Air Algerie
The Algerian carrier has suspended its Saturday flights to Amman, Dubai, and Doha.
Finnair
The airline suspended daily flights to Dubai and Doha until March 6. The head of communications at the Finnish airline, Paivyt Tallqvist, said roughly 4,000 customers will be affected by the suspension.
Norwegian
It has announced the suspension of its flights to and from Dubai until March 4.
Kenya Airways
It announced the suspension in a statement issued on Saturday, citing the closure of UAE airspace as justification.
“We wish to inform our customers that we have temporarily suspended flights to Dubai and Sharjah until further notice due to the UAE airspace closure,” the airline said.
