Thousands are stranded as the US-Israeli attack on Iran closes airspace in the Middle East

What’s going on US-Israeli strikes and Iran’s retaliatory attacks disrupting air traffic in the Middle East and beyond as countries in the region close their airports.

More than 2,400 flights were canceled Sunday at airports in the Middle East, according to flight tracker FlightAware. Airports in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, as well as the capital of Qatar, Doha, and Manama in Bahrain were among the closed airports.

Emirates Airlines has suspended all flights to and from Dubai until at least Sunday afternoon. Qatar’s airport was closed until at least Monday morning, according to Qatar Airways. Israeli airspace also remains closed on Sundays. The Israeli airline El Al said it is preparing to repatriate Israelis lost abroad once the airport is reopened.

United Airlines canceled all flights from the US to Tel Aviv until March 6 and their refunds “due to the closure of airports in the region.” Flights to and from Dubai were canceled until March 4, the airline said on Saturday evening.

Emirates, Qatar Airways and Etihad typically have around 90,000 passengers a day passing through the airports and more travelers to destinations in the Middle East, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.

“For travelers, there’s no sugarcoating this,” said Henry Harteveldt, an airline industry analyst and president of the Atmosphere Research Group. “You have to prepare for delays or cancellations over the next few days as this attack unfolds and hopefully ends.”

Airlines flying in the Middle East will have to reroute flights around the conflict, many heading south over Saudi Arabia. That will add hours to those flights and consume more fuel, adding to the costs the airlines will have to incur. So ticket prices can quickly start to rise if the conflict continues.

Mike McCormick, who used to supervise the control of the flights of the Federal Aviation Administration, said that in the next few days these countries can reopen parts of their airspace if the American and Israeli officials share with the airlines where the military planes are operating and how capable Iran is of shooting missiles.

“Those countries will be able to come through and say, OK, we can reopen this part of our airspace but we’re going to keep this part of our airspace closed,” McCormick said. “So I think what we’re going to see in the next 24 to 36 hours is how the use of airspace evolves as the kinetic activity is better defined and as Iran’s ability to fire missiles and create more threats is diminished by the attack.”

The situation was changing rapidly and airlines urged passengers to check the status of their flight online before going to the airport.

Some airlines have issued waivers to affected travelers that will allow them to rebook their flight plans without paying additional fees or higher fares.