Airspace closed, flights cancelled as US, Israel strike Iran

Flight maps showed the airspace over Iran virtually empty as Israel said it struck Iran and the US military initiated a series of strikes against targets in the country.

A plume of smoke rising following a reported explosion in Tehran on Feb 28.

PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI – Flights across the Middle East were being cancelled on Feb 28 as several countries closed their airspace 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.

Iran swiftly closed its airspace.

“The airspace of the entire country is closed until further notice,” announced the spokesman for Iran’s Civil Aviation Organisation, as 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 Feb 28 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”.

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 Feb 28 suspended flights to 10 Middle East 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, the UAE and Oman were suspended only 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 Amman on Feb 28.

“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 March 3 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 the airline and its subsidiaries were also suspending flights to and from Dubai and Abu Dhabi until March 1.

It said the cancellations were due to the “current situation in the Middle East”.

Algerian carrier Air Algerie said it was suspending Feb 28 flights to Amman, Dubai and Doha, the country’s media reported.

“It has been decided to cancel flights scheduled for today, Saturday, Feb 28, 2026, to and from Amman, Dubai and Doha,” the airline said in a statement released to the Algerian press.