It has been an absolutely wild day for aviation (and world events more broadly), as the United States and Israel have attacked Iran, and Iran has retaliated, by sending drones and missiles to some nearby countries with US military bases. This has caused a huge number of flight cancelations and airspace closures, particularly impacting Gulf…
Continue reading: Dubai Airport (DXB) Struck By Iranian Drone, With Injuries & Damage
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I am certain that the UAE just told the US to finish off whatever is left of Iran.
THe UAE will be back
They might be lining up to a seat at The Peace Committee II which will manage a transition government and set up a second hub for EK in Iran.
Thankfully many were safely spared. Also I can't help but think we have opened Pandora's box.
A geopolitical/military expert, too! Amazing multidisciplinary talents.
A Sunday reopening is a laugh. Try June or July.
@Ben Zayed airport has been hit now
Abu Dhabi Airports says one dead in ‘incident’ at Zayed International Airport
The Epstein files (Trump mentioned in it 3800+ times), and Netanyahu's corruption must be even worse than expected.
Is America Great Again yet, Trumptards and AIPAC cucks?
With talks of aerial bombardment continuing for at least a week, I wonder if the ME3 are looking at contingency plans. Most passengers don’t originate or terminate in the UAE or Qatar, and connect from Europe and North America to parts of Asia and Australia anyway. I wonder if we could see temporary permission sought for nonstop flights e.g. LHR-BOM operating with displaced ME3 planes? Or flights from DUB or LHR to SYD with a technical stop in SIN or something…
With talks of aerial bombardment continuing for at least a week, I wonder if the ME3 are looking at contingency plans. Most passengers don’t originate or terminate in the UAE or Qatar, and connect from Europe and North America to parts of Asia and Australia anyway. I wonder if we could see temporary permission sought for nonstop flights e.g. LHR-BOM operating with displaced ME3 planes? Or flights from DUB or LHR to SYD with a technical stop in SIN or something…
I am shaking with rage reading this. Sympathizers of the Iranian 'regime' deserve what is going to be coming at them.
Russ, do you understand what “The Constitution” is? MAGA types do have selective memories these days it seems.
@Tim Dunn
I didn't expect you to comment shit like a kid. Have you forgotten what UAE is doing in Sudan? And why is USA fighting Israel's war when now the whole world has known the Zionists are the greatest terrorists in the world.
It's irrelevant now. Iran is attacking our bases in the middle east, not to mention our terrific allies. Now we have full cause. We have played Iran like a fiddle. Your wing doesn't get playing the long game. Not intelligent enough sadly.
Maybe go listen to your compatriots MTG and ol Tucker and maybe you will start to think one level deeper
I know it’s not that important in the grand scheme of things but I’m guessing we will be seeing the retirement of A380s sooner than we thought from Emirates and Etihad as a result of the inevitable downturn today will cause in travel to the region and by those airlines.
What a shame. And to think I had my bucket list Residence trip booked for a couple weeks from now. Sigh.
I suggest you refrain from speaking about things you know nothing about. What are your qualifications in international relations? Based off your idiotic, poorly though-out, nonsensical comments, they are very clearly non-existent.
So to set you very clearly straight: the constitution does not require congress to issue a formal declaration of war, and beyond that the President can declare war under the War Powers Resolution in circumstances where involvement in hostilities is indicated by the circumstances.
Get a grip on reality before speaking of things you have no knowledge of, so as to not embarrass yourself in the future.
Passengers who use Middle East airlines to who use the middle east to transfer are getting what they deserve!
I never fly on middle east airline. They have never been safe.
FAFO
Iran is attacking US military installations not for no reason, but in response to US attacks. And the latter were clearly for no reason (pitiful bleating by U.S. envoy at the UN about "Iran trying to kill President Trump" doesn't count).
Overall, this aggressive and unpredictable foreign policy doesn't do any good to the US. Who will want to have any diplomatic relations with the US now, after all this? Things like killing negotiators, targeting nations' leadership. Counting on military might alone - well, no military budgets and no might will ever be enough to force everyone we want into anything we want.
Russ, just another MAGA cuck who would be up in arms if 46 had done this. Now, no big deal! Didn’t you and your brethren vote for an “America First” prez? lol.
The Nov blue wave can’t come soon enough.
It is obvious that neither one of you is the least bit objective, but at least Russ is coming from a place of partial accuracy -
Russ is correct that the Constitution does not require a formal declaration of war for the President to respond to active hostilities. Article II designates the President as Commander in Chief, and historically that authority has included the power to repel attacks and protect U.S. forces without waiting for Congress to convene.
The War Powers Resolution recognizes this reality - it requires notification and sets time limits, but it does not prohibit immediate defensive action. When U.S. bases or personnel are attacked, the President not only can respond, but he has a responsibility to do so.
This hurts. Many of us have been through there. DXB is not and should not be a military target. It’s a civilian airport. Hope this will all end soon and that there will be a lasting peace, stability, and prosperity for the region again, including for a FREE Iranian people.
Treacherous attack on an American ally! Bet Trump will drop a "deuce" on "E-RON" tonight?
We rarely agree, but I stand shoulder-to-shoulder to you right now. This is completely abhorrent and Iran must and WILL pay.
Darryl, you just got owned.
Man the MAGA brains are increasingly infected with a case of the ignorant & stupid
Ans I was owned how? Feel free to fact-check but the constant "MAGA" comments and insults aren't helping your case.
Rod, you're the same fellow as behind the creative aliases on here, right?
Regardless, I sincerely do hope that Xi will not act on Taiwan, now or anytime soon. Instead, it would be nice to see collaboration with the West and the world, continued leadership in renewables, enhancing their own domestic services economy and welcoming tourism, instead of similar kinetic adventurism in his own neighborhood, because he should see that it often comes at a high cost (for Putin, +1 million lives and global standing; for ME, well, look-y here.)
Easy, Vikram. Go easy on the 'juice.' This isn't a global-conspiracy. Sure, it's certainly a useful distraction for both Trump and Netanyahu, but let's be clear, the Iranian regime is not great for the region or its own people, but-for the mullahs, maybe. So, yeah, UAE, QR, KSA, etc. are ironically more aligned with Israel and US in this. Time to unite the region and bring peace, self-determination prosperity to all. Long-overdue.
One observes the predictable eruption of commentary from the self-anointed arbiters of profundity. For it is always the same pageant, bold declarations, emphatic punctuation, and the triumphant belief that noise equates to nuance. The spectacle unfolds precisely as one would expect from the likes of UA-NYC and Rod, vigorous in assertion, economical in depth.
And yet, one must not be too harsh. The proletariat of discourse thrives on immediacy. It is sustained by reaction rather than reflection. It celebrates the first volley as though it were the final word.
Meanwhile, those inclined toward structural comprehension recognize that events rarely bend to the emotional whims of the commentariat. They unfold according to forces far more intricate than a slogan or a sneer.
But do continue.
The theatre requires its actors. And every stage, however modest, deserves its chorus.
Darryl, rub your eyes and watch the news - the US wasn’t attacked and “responding to hostilities”. JFC it is genuinely embarrassing your ilk twist yourself into knots defending this senile warmonger.
This might turn all those Zionist travel gays anti-Israel now, for disrupting their ME3 business class flights and travel plans
we re-unite for a great cause... Peace in the Middle East and a great reset for Iran.
It’s a flash in the pan, it’ll be business as usual by next week.
I’m appalled however that we’re not also seeing the assassination of Netanyahu - him and Khameni are two sides of the same evil coin.
1990 - if anything, what the US did today will further embolden Great Leader Xi.
Nothing will distract the American public - and for that matter of the world - of the contents of the Trump files.
You people keep saying that but all the offices are lefties and prominent globalists. Trump is being vindicated by them.
Lefties like UA-NYC really are a fifth column and should be hauled away forever.
Then why do they refuse to release the rest of the files, if they vindictive him?
Doha airport was also hit by falling interceptor debris from Iranian drone attack, killing one “Asian national” and injuring several others according to the official airport social media.
Creative thinking.
It would presumably be only between airports where they have existing flights.
If it was to be three months or more, the airlines would definitely be keen to do something.
But most relevant governments have flag-carriers, who may secretly be glad to have competitors removed for a time.
The 12-day war showed that Israel, even without the USA, can establish air-superiority over Iran pretty quickly.
Will that be enough to reduce the risks of drones sufficiently, or not?
The brigade of Hot Air posters continue to add their little of value gobbledygook. Ben, must be laughing up his sleeve at the gibbering arguments posted herein. Good for point thought!
Adolf ‘rump, Xi and Poisonous Putin, (the world’s school yard bully boys) are free to attack the other kids at will. Adolf ‘rump, may have some justification in assisting to carry out the decapitation of the mad mullahs, however, his other two bully boy mates will now feel free to act with impunity.
What those on the right side of the pond should note is that …. There is no EU unity or capacity for decisive military action of any sort, or, under any circumstances. While the current UK government is rushing headlong to hide under the EU mother hen’s wing so as to hide from reality.
The only reason Orange cankles attacked Iran is for oil. If there wasn’t oil he would have done nothing.
He doesn’t care about how it affects anyone else but the US.
He claims to have ended 7-8 wars and yet had done absolutely nothing but increase tensions globally and disrupt the lives of millions of people.
Time for him and his junta to go.
Fairmont was a missile, not a drone.
Also as a fun fact: EK didn't shut down completely, they still operate some of their outside of Middle East. Bangkok to Hong Kong, New York to Milan and Newark to Athens are operating today in both directions. On the other hand, Malta to Larnaca is suspended even though they do have a plane in Malta. I assume this route has too little "local" frequency so it's not worth operating without the Dubai portion of the flight?
@Andrew - The situation may be over quickly but the memories of it will still be there. All the work Dubai has put into building its imagine will be in large part destroyed by this. Hotels on fire, airports hit by a missile, that kind of stuff sticks to many people's minds.
Personally, I wouldn't mind going to Dubai few weeks after the Iranian regime is toppled, but many people will be reluctant to even transfer there for a long time to come. Ken has a point, this will hurt Emirates and Etihad.
There is now substantial disruption in flights to/from India.
For Air India:
AI161 / AI162: Delhi–London (Heathrow) / London (Heathrow)–Delhi
AI111 / AI112: Delhi–London (Heathrow) / London (Heathrow)–Delhi
AI129 / AI128: Mumbai–London (Heathrow) / London (Heathrow)– Mumbai
AI169 / AI170: Amritsar–London (Gatwick) / London (Gatwick)– Amritsar
AI101 / AI102: Delhi–New York (JFK) / New York (JFK)–Delhi
AI119 / AI116: Mumbai–New York (JFK) / New York (JFK)–Mumbai
AI191 / AI144: Mumbai–Newark / Newark–Mumbai
AI127 / AI126: Delhi–Chicago / Chicago–Delhi (via Vienna)
AI187 / AI188 and AI189 / AI190: Delhi–Toronto / Toronto–Delhi (via Vienna)
AI2025 / AI2026: Delhi–Frankfurt / Frankfurt–Delhi
AI2027 / AI2028: Mumbai–Frankfurt / Frankfurt–Mumbai
AI143 / AI142 and AI147 / AI148: Delhi–Paris / Paris–Delhi
In addition to All flights to the Middle East.
I agree it will be interesting to see the long term impact on tourism in the Middle East because of these attacks.
The UAE closing their airspace "out of an abundance of caution" of one thing. Footage of airport terminals and luxury hotels on fire is entirely another.
Hopefully Emirates first class tickets go on sale soon. I would buy. Iran is crippled.
And yes - in my opinion that murderous thug Bibi should be in play also
Pedos like you, AndyS, should be castrated - but I suspect you are already a eunuch
Where was your rage when the orange blimp was killing boat crews off Venezuela?
Looks like need to fly the pacific direction for now (via japan/hong kong/china)
"The General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) of the United Arab Emirates has announced that the State is bearing all hosting and accommodation costs for affected and stranded passengers, ensuring the continued provision of essential services during the period of operational adjustments. "
Looks as though they realise that it would be really bad for future appeal if thousands of stranded passengers got home only to say how their travel insurance did not cover war and so they had had to pay for hotels.
If the argument that the leader of Iran deserves to be attacked because he was a terrible human being and all International Laws don't matter. Then that same argument would apply now if someone decides to attack the US correct?
Wow Iran is attacking airports they were operating passenger flights to barely 24 hours ago, some which still has their own planes parked in (Iran Air/Mahan/etc)
According to Reuters, Dubai is the world's busiest international hub. How long will it take commercial aviation to get back to normal? Not to mention, how much airline profit is being lost to higher fuel costs?
Trump's popularity in the US, according to some polls, is 35%. Congress comes in at about 15%. Meanwhile, Khamenei's approval in Iran was about 25%, and only 60% of Iranians favored regime change. How long do you think the Iranian Civil War will last? I know which side has all the guns.
No. On my recent trip to Dubai, fewer than 10 percent of passengers the aircraft disembarked for immigration. The vast majority are transferring between Europe, the Far East and Oceania.
FFS!!? Really? Chump is living proof that a pedophile conman does not have to be smart if his victims are stupid enough.
As the saying goes, you reap what you sow. Bankroll wars and genocides, and karma, b*tch, ain’t cheap. Just saying!
So I guess karma will also eventually put our president in jail where he'll get done in the bottom by some 17 year old?
It might be part of GPS spoofing, but there's an Etihad A350 currently flying from Istanbul to Abu Dhabi
ETD9SM/EY542 currently above Cairo with about 2hrs and 50mins left to get to the UAE.
Let's see whether it lands.
It's the only flight currently heading to any of the country's that closed down their airspace.
LOL Trump is the leader of the "globalists". Bailed out Argentina, releasing drug lords in Honduras, neocon regime changes in Venezuela and Iran, huge domestic tax increase through tariffs. All of this while his goons try to redact his name from the pedo-files while simultanously going after his buddies Bill Gates and Bill Clinton.
it was a drone. multiple videos and photos show it was a drone. a missile would have caused far more damage.
please educate yourself, samo, and stop eating up propa everywhere you find it. exercise some critical thinking from time to time why don't ya
russ, darryl, of course eskimo, and andys...
lol you maga nuts are out in full force with their war "anti-war" president in full effect.
didn't your supreme leader mention that obama would attack iran to get his ratings up?
didn't your glorious leader mention that obama can't attack syria without congressional approval?
didn't donny flip flops mention that he would release all the epstein files, then did everything in his power to delay, hide, or redact any information related to the epstein files? not to mention him suing anyone who said anything potentially defamatory about him, yet not a SINGLE case brought up against anyone claiming he's in the epstein files and guilty of doing all sorts of things...i guess it would mean an affirmative defence and unsealing a whole heap of things he doesn't want out there.
lawyer friends please correct me if i'm wrong
Muscat to Abu Dhabi, another A350
ET2/EY2 heading towards Abu Dhabi. 20mins left.
ETD9SM is close to Madinah now, 2hrs left
Air India can’t overfly Pakistan. Since they can’t reroute via the gulf they have no alternative. Other European carriers are able to do so.
So far they've been a hugely over-hyped nothing-burger, documenting soome sleazy behaviour and poor choices of associates, but very, very little in the way of illegal activities. I don't expect that the change.
If the Epstein files were on Hunter Biden's laptop you two idiots would be eating those nothing burgers like white castle sliders.
There is a difference between us not liking an individual administration vs not liking the entire regime. In the US we generally are supportive of the current regime (ie Constitution & the way we operate) but disagree with the administration.
When it's all said and done, who can blame Trump, it was either go to prison for touching minors or start a war which can eventually lead to marshal law so that he can be in power beyond 2028.
@UncleRonnie, I believe the UAE (bankrolled wars and genocides in Yemen and Sudan)
The hotel damage seems limited (tho the fire and response will of course make it considerably more so). The issue with missile defense is that the debris from an intercept attempt OR a failed intercept OR a successful intercept can all do similar damage to an actual hit. Just in a different place than the original target.
Unfortunate, messy, and terrible all around. If only the US and Israel had stuck to international law, none of this would have happened.
They're not attacking airports, but both in Dubai and in Abu Dhabi, the US military basis are behind the airport. The damage is caused by falling debris, not by direct hits.
I think that so many opinions written here are given like a statement. Nothing wrong with given an opinion but writing them as a stone-cold hard fact causes discussion and divide. People need to relearn giving 2 sides of each coin and then mention their opinion, rather than just focusing on "their truth". Nothing wrong with writing "I think that...", "I feel that...", "In my opinion..."
Putting aside politics for a moment, I’d really appreciate if this administration could go a few weeks without throwing air travel into total chaos.
And the beat goes on, the beat goes on, la de dah de dee, la de dah de dah
Sonny and Cher 1969 - Same old same old
Somehow I'm skeptical that this half-brained air campaign is going to result in either peace in the ME or a secular/non-fundamentalist Islamic republic in Iran, but I'd be happy to be surprised.