Air India, IndiGo, Emirates, Qatar Airways suspend flight operations on 2 March as Dubai airport remains closed

Air India, IndiGo and Qatar Airways were among the airlines that extended their suspension of operations in the Middle East on Monday owing to the conflict in the region triggered by the war in Iran while the Dubai airport remained closed.

Tens of thousand of passengers were stranded around the world as airlines sought to reroute around the Middle East. Flight tracking website FlightAware said more than 2,700 flights had been cancelled globally and more than 12,300 delayed as of 1720 GMT Sunday.

“In view of the continuing situation in the Middle East, Air India has extended the suspension of all flights to and from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Qatar until 2359 hrs IST on 2 March 2026," the airline said.

Additionally, some flights to Europe scheduled on 2 March 2026 have been cancelled, as well with the scheduled return legs of these flights, Air India said. The suspended flights include —

• AI117: Amritsar to Birmingham

• AI151/AI152: Delhi to Zurich and vice versa

• AI157/AI158: Delhi to Copenhagen and vice versa

• AI114: Birmingham to Delhi

“In view of the prevailing situation, the temporary suspension of select international flights that use Middle East airspace, has been extended until 2nd March 2026, 2359 hrs IST. Please refer to the list of cancelled flights on our website https://goindigo.in/information/flight-cancellations.html. This extension is a precautionary measure to ensure that we uphold the highest standards of safety for our customers and crew,” the airline said in a post on X.

Qatar Airways, one of the biggest airlines in the world, announced that it had temporarily suspended all its operations owing to the closure of the airspace in the country.

“Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace. A further update will be provided on March 02 by 09:00 Doha time (06:00 UTC),” it said in a post on X on 1 March.

It advised passengers to visit its official website to keep track of their scheduled flights and whether they had been cancelled.

Emirates also closed all its operations to and from Dubai, owing to the multiple airspace closures.

“Due to multiple regional airspace closures, Emirates has temporarily suspended all operations to and from Dubai, up until 1500hrs UAE time on Monday, 2 March,” the airline said in a post on X.

It said that passengers could either reschedule their flights for up to 20 days of their original date of travel, or can request for a refund by cancelling their journey.

“Flight operations at @DXB and Dubai World Central – Al Maktoum International (DWC) have been suspended until further notice. Guests are advised not to travel to the airport, and to check with their airlines for flight updates,” it said.

Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates had all announced at least partial closures of their skies.