Scale of Disruption
The air travel impact was unprecedented:
- Over 21,000 flights cancelled across seven major Middle East airports
- Dubai, Doha, Abu Dhabi, and other hubs — normally processing ~526,000 passengers daily — faced closures
- Repatriation flights organized by multiple countries to bring citizens home
- Airlines worldwide began rerouting, adding hours and cost to Asia-Europe flights
Sources: CNBC, Al Jazeera, TIME, Flightradar24