Thousands of Flights Disrupted Across Middle East Amid Conflict

Airports in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Israel faced the most flight cancellations on Sunday.

Passengers whose flights were canceled wait at the departure terminal of Rafik Hariri International Airport in Beirut, Lebanon, on Feb. 28, 2026, as many airlines canceled flights during the conflict involving the United States, Israel and Iran. Hassan Ammar/AP Photo

One day after the U.S. and Israeli militaries hit Tehran in a coordinated series of strikes to topple the Iranian regime, thousands of flights were canceled or delayed on March 1 across many of the busiest airports in the Middle East.

Large portions of the region’s airspace remain closed after the U.S. and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other top Iranian officials on Saturday. Israel said it had launched a second wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday.