Global aviation chaos as airlines suspend flights

Airspace across Iran, Israel & Middle East countries closed

- REUTERS

AIRLINES SUSPENDED FLIGHTS across the Middle East on Saturday, including to and from the world’s busiest travel hub Dubai, after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a renewed military confrontation.

Flight maps showed airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain virtually empty as Israel said it struck Iran and the US military initiated a series of strikes against targets in the country. Iran retaliated with a salvo of missiles. Witnesses told Reuters about explosions across the Gulf, including in Qatar’s Doha, which hosts the biggest US military base in the Middle East, as well as Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates - key global transport hubs.

The closure of Gulf megahubs chokes the busiest east-west transit point, leaving few parts of the planet untouched by disruption.