Amid escalating tensions in the Middle East in the wake of the US and Israel attacks on Iran and the subsequent closure of airspaces in the Gulf region, several global carriers have suspended or cancelled services to Gulf destinations for March 2 as a precautionary measure. Hundreds of thousands of travellers were either stranded or diverted to other airports after Israel, Qatar, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Bahrain closed their airspace. There were also no flights over the United Arab Emirates, the flight tracking website FlightRadar24 said, after the government announced a “temporary and partial closure” of its airspace. The airspace restrictions have significantly hit European operations of Air India and IndiGo, and North American operations of Air India as unlike other international carriers, Air India and IndiGo cannot overfly Pakistan too, which makes them extremely dependent on West Asian corridors to fly beyond the region. Breaking It DownPowered via AIWhat steps should travelers take if flights are canceled?How are airlines managing flight disruptions during conflicts?What are the major airspaces advised to avoid during conflicts?Air IndiaAir India announced cancellation of 50 flights to and from Europe and North America on Sunday (March 1), with nearly all flights to destinations in Europe and the UK cancelled for the day, meanwhile, among the North American operations of the carrier - a bulk of the flights were cancelled, even as some flights operated using alternate routings, as per flight tracking data.
