Airlines face fresh upheaval as Iran attacks US airbase in Qatar

“It’s terrifying,” said Miret Padovani, a business owner who was stranded at Doha’s Hamad International Airport. She was booked on a Qatar Airways flight to Thailand scheduled to leave late Monday, but cancelled her trip and is now planning on returning home to Dubai early on Tuesday.

“Everything happened so quick. I actually heard from people in the first class lounge that the missiles were being sent this way before they were even in the news.”

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, about two dozen flights to Doha, mostly from Qatar Airways, were diverted on Monday, and about a handful of flights to Dubai were diverted due to the airspace closures.

Kuwait Airways suspended on Monday its flight departures from the country, while UAE’s Etihad Airways was rerouting flights on Monday and Tuesday.

IAG’s Spanish airline Iberia scrapped a plan from earlier in the day to resume flights to Doha on Tuesday after the latest airspace closures.

With Russian and Ukrainian airspace also closed to most airlines due to years of war, the Middle East has become a more important route for flights between Europe and Asia. Amid missile and air strikes during the past 10 days, airlines have routed north via the Caspian Sea or south via Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

Carriers have likely been avoiding Doha, Dubai and other airports in the region due to concerns that Iran or its proxies could target drone or missile attacks on US military bases in these countries, aviation risk consultancy Osprey Flight Solutions said.