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- Airports across the Middle East have suspended all flight operations until further notice, leaving many stranded.
- The US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday, with Iran launching retaliatory strikes across the region.
- One Emirates passenger told Business Insider he was stuck on a plane for five hours without food before everyone was deplaned.
Travelers are in limbo as airport departure boards flip to red after air strikes in Iran resulted in closed airspace and triggered mass flight cancellations.
The heart of the chaos is in the Middle East, where airports in Dubai, Doha, and Abu Dhabi serve as megahubs for global connecting traffic. Data from the aviation analytics firm Cirium shows their home airlines — Emirates, Qatar Airways, and Etihad Airways — carry a combined 90,000 transit passengers a day.
That figure does not include the thousands of travelers whose final destination is the Middle East.
Emirates passenger Jaiveer Cheema, who was set to fly back home to the US on Saturday, told Business Insider that he was stuck on his plane for five hours with no food before everyone was deplaned and shuffled into the crowded terminal at Dubai International.
“The next several hours at the airport were chaos as no one knew what to do,” he said. “We spoke to several security guards and Emirates employees, and they all gave us different answers.”
Cheema said they stood in line after line until they eventually got a hotel voucher and took a bus to the lodging. He was still waiting for a room 90 minutes after arriving — it’s after midnight in Dubai; nearly 20 hours after he initially showed up for his 9 a.m. flight.
While many passengers are stranded within the region’s closed airspace, shuttered until further notice, the disruption has rippled far beyond it.
Flights to the affected region from places like London and the US have been canceled outright or diverted mid-journey — leaving travelers far from home in crowded airport terminals and uncertain when they will be able to depart.
Airlines have told passengers on social media to expect long wait times at airports and on customer-service phone lines as they try to manage the abrupt disruptions.
The sheer number of displaced people and planes on Saturday alone is expected to snowball worldwide if airports are unable to restart operations soon.
Passengers in Dubai were funneled into long snaking lines.
Courtesy of Jaiveer Cheema
Passengers at Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport in Lebanon are stranded.
Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images
Airlines are suspending flights across the region, including Lebanon.
Anadolu/Anadolu via Getty Images
International flights at Tribhuvan International Airport in Nepal were disrupted.
Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS
Passengers flying with major airlines were told to check their flight status.
Navesh Chitrakar/REUTERS
Qatar’s airspace closure caused flight disruptions at Hamad International Airport.
Stringer/REUTERS
In London, flights to the countries Middle East were canceled.
Ben Stansall / AFP
London Gatwick Airport told some passengers to expect travel interruptions.
Ben Stansall / AFP
