When Australians booked holidays to Europe through Dubai this southern summer, they were buying tickets on one of the world's most reliable air corridors. This weekend, that corridor became a combat zone. Iranian retaliatory strikes against Gulf states hosting US military assets have closed airspace across most of the Middle East, leaving thousands of Australians stranded in hotels, airport terminals and rented apartments with no clear timeline for getting home.
The crisis began on 28 February 2026, when the United States and Israel launched coordinated strikes on Iran. The escalation triggered an immediate closure of critical airspace and the suspension of operations at some of the world's most vital transit hubs. Iran's response was swift and broad. At least eight states declared their airspace closed as the conflict erupted on Saturday, including Iran, Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
The conflict led to the closure of key hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha, and the cancellation of more than 1,800 flights by major Middle Eastern airlines, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. By Sunday, the toll had risen sharply. More than 2,300 flights were cancelled across the region on Saturday alone, with a further 716 scrapped on Sunday, while global delays topped 18,000.
The three major Gulf airlines, Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways, typically carry about 90,000 passengers per day through those hubs, and even more travellers are headed to destinations in the Middle East, Cirium said. An estimated 150,000 to 200,000 passengers globally were stranded or diverted in the first 24 hours, with thousands sleeping in terminals at Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha as hotel rooms near the airports filled.
Dubai, which styles itself as a safe cosmopolitan crossroads between East and West, took direct hits. UAE authorities confirmed that Dubai International Airport, the world's busiest for international passengers, was struck during Iran's retaliatory attacks, with one concourse sustaining what the airport operator described as "minor damage in an incident, which was quickly contained"; four airport workers were injured. Separately, drone debris caused a minor fire on the outer facade of the Burj Al Arab hotel, and a drone struck the Fairmont The Palm hotel on Palm Jumeirah, sparking a fire that injured four people before being brought under control. In Abu Dhabi, a drone targeting Zayed International Airport was intercepted, but falling debris killed one person and injured a further seven.
Last year, Dubai and Abu Dhabi's hubs handled a combined 127.7 million passengers, according to official figures. That scale explains why the closure of UAE airspace has rippled far beyond the Gulf. Most Australians travelling to the United Kingdom or Europe rely on what is colloquially called the "kangaroo route" via Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi, and with rolling airspace closures, those hubs have turned into bottlenecks. Qantas flight QF9, the direct Perth-to-London service, was forced to take a significant detour over Southeast Asia and Central Asia on Sunday morning, adding nearly four hours to the flight time and requiring a technical refuelling stop in Singapore.
For Australian travellers with connections through Doha, the picture is similarly grim. Virgin Australia confirmed the suspension of several flights operated by Qatar Airways, with affected passengers offered the option of rescheduling or requesting a refund. Emirates, for its part, has asked passengers with bookings before 5 March to rebook or request a refund, as reported by Karryon.
Canberra's hands are tied, for now
Foreign Minister Penny Wong has indicated that airspace closures caused by Iranian retaliatory strikes are likely to limit the federal government's ability to organise repatriation flights for Australians stranded in the Middle East. Speaking from the DFAT Crisis Centre in Canberra, Wong was candid about the government's constraints. "At the moment, airspace is closed; this means that governments have closed down airspace because of the risk of strikes on civilian aircraft. So obviously we have to wait until airspace is open before we can try to get people out by air," she said.
Wong said around 350 Australians in Iran and 300 in Israel have registered with DFAT as seeking assistance to depart, though she acknowledged those figures were likely to rise through the day. The government opened a crisis register on Sunday morning for Australians in Iran and Israel seeking to leave, alongside a crisis communications line.
The Australian government immediately issued fresh travel advisories for large parts of the Middle East, lifting alerts to the highest level, "Do Not Travel", for the UAE including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Bahrain, Lebanon, Kuwait and Israel, joining Iran, Syria and Yemen. The Smartraveller advisory for the UAE now states: "Due to the volatile security situation in the region and military strikes in the United Arab Emirates, we've raised our level of advice for the UAE to do not travel. Retaliatory strikes are occurring following military strikes on Iran. Military conflict in the region may result in widespread movement restrictions, airspace closures, flight cancellations and other travel disruptions."
Industry is urging patience over panic. Australian Travel Industry Association CEO Dean Long advised travellers: "Do not cancel arrangements without first seeking professional advice. Sitting still, waiting for the airline and the agency to contact you to support you through that moment is the most important aspect." Travellers should also check the ACCC's guidance on flight cancellation rights before accepting any rebooking offer, as airlines are legally obliged to provide remedies under Australian consumer law for services they cannot deliver.
A crisis with no quick fix
Aviation experts warn the disruption could last well beyond this week. Linus Bauer, head of UAE-based boutique consultancy BAA and Partners, told The National: "If disruptions remain short-lived the impact is manageable. If airspace avoidance persists, airlines face structurally higher operating costs, weaker aircraft utilisation and profit margin pressure, especially on long-haul networks reliant on Middle East transit corridors."
For comparison, the Israeli and US attack on Iran in June 2025 lasted 12 days, though the scale of the current escalation appears considerably broader. Europe's aviation safety regulator EASA issued a Conflict Zone Information Bulletin for the Middle East and the Gulf that is valid until early March, noting a "high risk to civil aviation" in the affected airspace and advising airlines against operating there.
The situation also carries wider economic consequences. Sea vessels operating in the Gulf reported messages on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil export route connecting Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq and the UAE with the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. Disruption to that chokepoint adds an energy dimension to what is already a serious logistics crisis.
For now, the picture for Australians in Dubai and across the Gulf is one of enforced waiting. One Australian resident in Dubai, speaking to 7News, likened the situation to the early days of the COVID pandemic as the city effectively locked down. It is an apt comparison in one specific sense: as with COVID, no one yet knows how long this lasts, and the government's reach only extends as far as the skies allow. Australians in or travelling through the region should monitor Smartraveller for updates, register with DFAT if they are in Iran or Israel, and contact the Consular Emergency Centre in Canberra on +61 2 6261 3305 around the clock.