Data shows that at least 4,000 flights have been canceled worldwide in the past three days.Dubai, the world’s busiest international hub, and Doha remained closed for a third day, stranding tens of thousands of passengers as aviation faced its biggest test since the COVID pandemic. Jordan on Monday became the latest country in the region to partially close its airspace.
Oil prices rose as much as 13% to their highest since January 2025 as Iran and Israel stepped up their attacks, raising the prospect of higher fuel costs for airlines.
US airline stocks fell as markets opened on Monday, with American Airlines and United Airlines down more than 6%.
The STOXX Asia/Pacific 600 Travel & Leisure and the STOXX Europe Travel & Leisure indexes, which include major airlines, together lost $11.9 billion in market value, according to Reuters calculations. Aviation analytics firm Cirium said at least 1,560 flights were canceled on Monday, meaning more than 4,000 flights had been canceled since Saturday. That figure is likely higher given the incomplete data collection, Cirium added.
Shares in TUI, Europe’s largest travel company, fell 9.6% at 1:02 PM GMT, while Lufthansa fell 5.7% and British Airways owner IAG fell 5.4%. Hotelier Accor and cruise company Carnival also fell sharply.
“Every airline is full and every flight is full because people just have to take what they can,” said Paul Charles, head of travel consultancy PC Agency, who himself was stranded abroad. Charles said planes and crew were scattered in the wrong places around the world in a “nightmare scenario.”
Analysts pointed to rising fuel costs, cancellations and diversion charges as the key sticking points for airlines, despite hedging. JPMorgan, Goodbody and Citi identified Wizz Air as the most exposed European airline due to its large presence in Israel. Shares fell 7% on Monday.
Etihad in Abu Dhabi resumed some flights on Monday, while Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport said it would reopen on a limited basis.
Even before the conflict, the sector was under pressure as budget-conscious travelers avoided expensive holidays. Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings on Monday forecast weaker-than-expected earnings for 2026.
Many Middle Eastern airlines continued to cancel flights. Flydubai suspended all flights to and from Dubai until 3pm (11am GMT) on Tuesday.
Shares of Asian airlines were also hit, including Japan’s ANA Holdings, Air China, China Eastern Airlines and Malaysia’s AirAsia X, all of which fell at least 4%. Cathay Pacific canceled all flights to the Middle East, including to Dubai and Riyadh, and waived rebooking fees.
Singapore Airlines canceled flights to and from Dubai until March 7, while Japan Airlines suspended flights between Tokyo and Doha.
Singapore-based independent aviation analyst Brendan Sobie said Indian airlines are particularly vulnerable due to busy schedules in the Middle East serving migrant workers and a ban on the use of Pakistani airspace on flights to and from Europe.
Air India canceled flights between India and Zurich, Copenhagen, Birmingham, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Qatar and said services to New York and Newark would refuel in Rome.
Data provider VariFlight said mainland Chinese airlines had canceled 26.5% of flights to and from the Middle East between March 2 and 8, indicating “sharp disruption in the short term” but a wait-and-see approach to possible longer-term changes to flight schedules.
PASSENGERS WANT TO CHANGE FLIGHTS
The ripple effects have affected travelers around the world. According to Airports Council International, Dubai was the world’s busiest international airport in 2024 with 92 million passengers, ahead of London’s Heathrow with 13 million. Doha ranks 10th.
Lufthansa canceled passenger flights to and from the UAE, but tried to fly an Airbus jet from Dubai to Munich without passengers.
James Halstead, managing partner at Aviation Strategy, said he was optimistic that the impact on the sector would not be long-term and that travel volumes around the world were unlikely to decline materially.
Qatar Airways passengers in Sydney told Reuters they had to rearrange their trips with little information. Ascanio Giorgetti, 16, and his mother Alessandra Giorgetti from Italy saw their flight to Milan via Doha cancelled. They arranged an alternate route home via Los Angeles with a different airline.
“We have no information at all, no answer on the phone from Qatar (Airways),” she said, adding that the tickets had cost 4,000 euros ($4,708).
Jenni and Doug Stewart, both 78, flew from Sydney to Scotland via Doha when their flight returned to Melbourne, before then flying to Sydney. “We were told the airspace was closed,” Jenni said. “It was chaotic in Melbourne, hundreds of people were looking for even the vaguest information,” said Doug.
($1 = 0.8495 euros)
(Reporting by Byron Kaye and Hollie Adams in Sydney, Shivangi Lahiri and Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru, Joanna Plucinska and Samuel Indyk in London, Tim Hepher in Paris, Federico Maccioni in Dubai, Alessandro Parodi in Gdansk, Danilo Masoni in Milan, Ben Blanchard in Taipei, Julie Zhu in Hong Kong, Samuel Shen in Shanghai, David Dolan and Maki Shiraki in Tokyo, Jun Yuan Yong in Singapore and Juarawee Kittsilpa in Malaysia; Writing by Anne Marie Roantree and Joanna Plucinska; editing by Jamie Freed, Mark Potter and Susan Fenton)
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