A small number of evacuation flights began departing the United Arab Emirates on Monday, offering a slim lifeline to thousands of travellers stranded by the rapidly widening conflict in the Middle East. Despite these limited departures from Dubai and Abu Dhabi, the vast majority of commercial air traffic across the region remains at a standstill. The urgency of the situation was underscored by the US State Department, which issued a blunt directive to its citizens in 13 countries — including the UAE, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia — to "depart now" via any available means, citing grave safety risks as the "tit-for-tat" strikes between Iran, Israel, and the US enter their fourth day.
The scale of the disruption is staggering. Aviation analysts at Cirium report that roughly 13,000 of the 32,000 flights scheduled into or out of the region since Saturday have been axed. For those left behind, the experience has been one of high-stakes waiting; tourists, migrant workers, and pilgrims find themselves stuck in hotels or terminal lounges, often within earshot of air defence systems intercepting incoming drones. Airspace remains a patchwork of "no-fly zones," with Iran, Iraq, and Israel completely closed, and Jordan joining them on Monday afternoon.
Among those who made it out was Leela Rao, a law student who spent hours sheltered in Abu Dhabi on Saturday as explosions rattled the city. She managed to board one of the 16 Etihad flights that were fast-tracked during a brief three-hour window on Monday. Upon landing in Delhi, she described a scene of pure relief, with passengers breaking into spontaneous applause as the wheels touched the tarmac. Others haven't been so lucky; Faizan Khalid, stranded in Lahore with his wife and six-month-old daughter, spoke of his growing desperation as their supply of baby formula dwindles while they wait for a flight home to Scotland that has already been pushed back several times.
Governments worldwide are now shifting into a full-scale repatriation effort. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has warned that the situation remains "challenging" but confirmed the UK is weighing all options to support the estimated 102,000 Britons currently in the region. Germany and the Czech Republic are already dispatching aircraft to hubs like Oman and Saudi Arabia to prioritise the evacuation of children, the elderly, and those requiring medical care. Meanwhile, Indonesia faces a monumental task in repatriating over 58,000 citizens currently on pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia.
The aviation industry’s recovery hinges entirely on security. As Henry Harteveldt of Atmosphere Research Group noted, airlines simply will not return to a normal schedule until the risk of an aircraft being targeted reaches zero. With Gulf hubs like Dubai International usually handling nearly 100 million passengers a year as the world's primary link between East and West, the continued paralysis of these airports is sending shockwaves through global travel that will likely be felt for weeks, even if the guns fall silent tomorrow.
Also read: Tehran's cameras, networks hacked to track Khamenei: Reports
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