Air travel chaos intensified Monday as the war with Iran stretched into a third day — keeping airspace and airports in the Middle East closed and leaving travelers stranded.
Tourists, business travelers and religious pilgrims found themselves stuck unexpectedly in hotels, airports and on cruise ships, with no word on when many airports would reopen or when flights to, and through, the Middle East would resume.
Among the many people stranded were more than 58,000 Indonesians in Saudi Arabia who had been visiting Islam’s holy sites of Mecca and Medina during Ramadan. And about 30,000 German tourists were also stranded on cruise ships, in hotels or at closed airports.
Airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha — important hubs for travel between Europe, Africa and the West to Asia — remained shuttered after they were all directly hit by Iranian strikes.
Anna Kurth/AFP via Getty Images
However, the government of Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, said on Monday that both of its major airports would reopen later in the day for “limited” flights, several days after both facilities were closed due to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran and Iran’s retaliatory missile and drone fire.
“Dubai Airports announces a limited resumption of flights from Dubai International Airport (DXB) and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC) starting this evening,” the Dubai government said on X.
“Dubai Airports urged passengers not to go to the airport unless they have been contacted by the relevant airline to confirm their flight departure time,” the administration noted.
Dubai International Airport is the busiest commercial aviation hub in the world by passenger volume, with some 95.2 million people traveling through the airport last year, according to Dubai Airports.
Emirates, based in Dubai International Airport, said it will resume operating a “limited number of flights” on Monday evening, without providing more details. It previously said it was suspending flights until 3 p.m. local time Tuesday.
“We are accommodating customers with earlier bookings as a priority,” it said and advised people not to go to the airport unless they were notified.
Doha-based Qatar Airways said Monday its flights remained suspended, with its next update planned for Tuesday morning.
Air France canceled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh, while carriers from Air India to KLM suspended flights and issued advisories.
Airspace over multiple countries across the region was closed. Jordanian authorities announced Monday that its airspace would be closed from later in the evening “until further notice, in order to ensure the safety and security of civil aviation in Jordanian airspace,” according to the country’s official news agency.
The Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority said Monday that the complete closure of the country’s airspace to civilian traffic would be extended for at least 48 hours due to “ongoing security concerns in region.”
Some governments were scrambling to help their citizens get home after the conflict erupted on Saturday with Israel and the U.S. bombarding Iran.
U.K. Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said Britain was establishing support systems to help citizens flee the Gulf region, home to an estimated 300,000 Britons.
“We are looking at a wide range of options, working, crucially with the travel industry and with government evacuation if necessary,” Cooper told Britain’s Sky News.
Asked by Sky if the U.K. might stage government evacuations from some countries, Cooper said: “We’re working on every possible option.”
“We have to recognize the scale of this as well, and also the fact that there are strikes still underway,” she said.
German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said late Sunday a military evacuation wasn’t possible because of airspace closures and that the government was looking into other options to help bring citizens home. He said everyone should follow advice from German travel agencies and local authorities.
The German Travel Association called on tourists to “remain at their booked hotels as a matter of urgency” and not “make their own way to the airport or to a neighboring country.”
Other governments made similar recommendations.
The U.S. Embassy in Israel said in a security alert Sunday that it directed all U.S. government employees and their families to shelter in place in and near their residences until further notice.
It said the embassy would be closed on Monday and that it was not in a position to evacuate or directly assist Americans in leaving Israel.
President Trump said Sunday that the joint operation would continue “until all of our objectives are achieved,” which he said could be up to four weeks. At least four American service members have been killed, according to the U.S. military.