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Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - PARIS, Feb 28 — Flights across the Middle East were being cancelled Saturday as several countries slammed their airspace shut after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies in the hours after smoke began rising over Tehran and Iran began retaliatory attacks in the region.
Carriers including Air France, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Air Algerie and Lufthansa announced widespread cancellations.
Airspace closures
Iran swiftly closed its airspace.
“The airspace of the entire country is closed until further notice,” announced the spokesman of Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, quoted by Tasnim news agency.
Israel also closed its airspace to civilian flights, its transport minister, Miri Regev, announced.
Iraq also shut down airspace, state media said, while the United Arab Emirates said it was closing its skies “partially and temporarily”.
Syria closed part of its airspace in the south along the border with Israel for 12 hours, the Civil Aviation Authority said.
“The southern air corridors will be closed... from Saturday 12:00pm (0900 GMT) for 12 hours,” the agency said in a statement.
Jordan’s air force was conducting drills to “defend the kingdom’s skies,” its military said, later adding that it shot down two ballistic missiles.
Kuwait closed its airspace, with its military later saying it had “engaged incoming missiles”.
Flights cancelled
Russia’s air transport authority Rosaviatsia said it was cancelling all commercial flights to both Israel and Iran in the wake of the strikes “until further notice”.
Air India suspended flights to all destinations in the Middle East.
“In view of the developing situation in parts of the Middle East, all Air India flights to all destinations in the Middle East have been suspended,” the airline said in a statement posted on X.
Turkish Airlines on Saturday suspended flights to 10 Mideast nations.
“Flights to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Jordan have been cancelled until March 2,” spokesman Yahya Ustun said, while flights to Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman were only suspended for the day.
Air France cancelled its Tel Aviv and Beirut flights, saying it would provide schedule updates later.
British Airways said it would not fly to Tel Aviv and Bahrain until March 4 and had cancelled a flight to the Jordanian capital on Saturday.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and have taken the operational decision to cancel our flights to Tel Aviv and Bahrain up to and including 03 March and have cancelled today’s service to Amman,” the company said in a statement to AFP.
Swiss International Air Lines said it was suspending flights to and from Tel Aviv until March 7, a total of 14 trips.
“As numerous airspaces are closed as a result of the current situation, we are also cancelling the flights from Zurich to Dubai scheduled for today and tomorrow,” the Swiss flag carrier said.
Lufthansa announced it has cancelled its flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil and Tehran until March 7.
The German airline group said in a statement that it and its subsidiaries were also suspending flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until Sunday.
It said the cancellations were due to the “current situation in the Middle East”.
Algerian carrier Air Algerie said it was suspending Saturday’s flights to Amman, Dubai and Doha, the country’s media reported.
“It has been decided to cancel flights scheduled for today, Saturday, February 28, 2026, to and from Amman, Dubai, and Doha,” the airline said in a statement released to the Algerian press.
Norwegian told AFP on Saturday that it was suspending its flights to and from Dubai up until and including March 4.
“We will then assess if it’s possible to resume flights,” Charlotte Holmbergh, the budget carrier’s communications director, told AFP.
Flight tracking website FlightAware said more than 9,600 flights had been delayed globally and more than 500 cancelled worldwide as of 1030 GMT. — AFP
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