Hundreds of Australians woke on Sunday to the grim reality that their travel plans had been torn apart by a conflict half a world away. Closed skies over some of the busiest aviation corridors on the planet have stranded travellers at home, in transit, and deep inside a Middle East that is now an active theatre of war.
The immediate trigger was the United States and Israel launching what President Donald Trump described as a major combat operation against Iran beginning on Saturday, 28 February. The strikes came after US-Iran nuclear talks in Geneva failed to yield a deal to avert the crisis. Iran responded with an unprecedented wave of retaliatory missile and drone strikes across the Persian Gulf, targeting Israel and US military bases in Jordan, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
For Australians, the consequences have been immediate and costly. Dubai International Airport, the single most important transit point for Australians flying to Europe and the United Kingdom via the so-called "kangaroo route", has been among the hardest hit. According to 9News, at least 1,200 flights have been cancelled out of Dubai International alone. Aviation analytics firm Cirium reported that 747 flights, or 70 per cent of Dubai's scheduled services, were cancelled on Sunday. The three major Gulf carriers, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, typically carry around 90,000 passengers per day through those hubs.
The airport was not merely disrupted; it was struck. Passengers rushed to evacuate one of the world's busiest airports after a reported Iranian strike, with dramatic footage showing people fleeing a smoke-filled passageway strewn with furniture and debris. Officials confirmed four staff had been injured. Hours later, an explosion near the airport sent a thick plume of black smoke into the air as part of a fresh wave of Iranian strikes across the Middle East on Sunday, following the death of Iran's supreme leader in US-Israeli strikes. At Abu Dhabi's Zayed International Airport, a drone strike killed one person and injured seven.
For Australians specifically, 9News reports five flights in and out of Sydney bound for Dubai or Qatar have been cancelled, along with seven from Melbourne, three from Adelaide, and one from Perth. Those numbers are expected to change throughout Sunday as airlines reassess conditions on an hour-by-hour basis.
Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Qatar, Syria and the UAE closed their respective airspace following the attacks, with international airlines including British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Lufthansa and Virgin Atlantic among those suspending services to the Middle East. More than 1,800 flights in and out of Middle East countries were cancelled on Saturday, according to aviation data firm Cirium, with another 1,400 cancelled for Sunday.
The Australian government has moved quickly, at least on the advisory front. On 1 March, Smartraveller raised its travel advice to the highest Level 4 "Do Not Travel" rating for Israel, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Qatar, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Iran. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade warned that many Australians in the Middle East are unable to leave due to airspace closures, and that road and land border closures may also restrict movement. Australians in Iran were urged to leave as soon as it is safe to do so, while those remaining were advised to prepare to shelter in place with supplies of water, food and medication.
The ripple effects have spread well beyond the conflict zone. Airport authorities at Ngurah Rai International Airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali reported more than 1,600 tourists stranded on Sunday after five flights to the Middle East were cancelled or postponed. Qantas flight QF9, the direct Perth-to-London service, was reportedly forced to take a detour over Southeast Asia and Central Asia, adding nearly four hours to the flight time and requiring a technical refuelling stop in Singapore.
Airlines and their customers now face a protracted period of uncertainty. Hundreds of thousands of travellers are affected by the airspace closures, and it is not immediately clear when restrictions will lift or when airlines will complete safety checks to resume flights. One aviation industry analyst noted the strikes will mainly affect airlines through "operational inefficiency" rather than a collapse in travel demand, meaning longer and costly re-routing, higher insurance and war-risk premiums, amplifying fragility in route networks and driving up fuel costs.
There is also a sobering financial reality for those caught in the disruption. Many travel insurance policies do not cover events like military conflicts or natural disasters after the fact, meaning customers would need "cancel anytime" policies to be fully refunded. For travellers who booked standard policies before the conflict erupted, the financial exposure could be significant.
The crisis raises broader questions about Australia's strategic dependence on Gulf transit hubs. The kangaroo route to Europe runs almost exclusively through Dubai, Doha and Abu Dhabi, and the current chaos highlights how vulnerable that dependence leaves Australian travellers when regional security deteriorates. As Smartraveller has noted, airspace closures around transit hubs in the Middle East can impact flights globally, including on routes to Europe, even when a traveller's destination is nowhere near the conflict zone.
For those caught in the middle, the priority must be safety first. Australians in the region should register with DFAT through the Smartraveller portal, contact their airline directly for rebooking options, and follow the advice of local authorities. The government's consular emergency line operates around the clock within Australia at 1300 555 135. Those seeking flight information can monitor real-time airspace data through Flightradar24, which has been tracking the rapidly changing closures across the region. The situation remains fluid, and conditions could change again with little warning.