Middle East airspace closures trigger flight disruptions at Hyderabad airport; 48 cancellations on March 1

Middle East airspace closures lead to 48 flight cancellations at Hyderabad Airport on March 1 amid escalating tensions.

On Sunday morning, as passengers hurried towards the departures entrance at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), one family sat quietly on a bench along the median, waiting. Rehman was watching the flight information screens closely. His parents had boarded a Saudia Airlines flight to Jeddah around 20 minutes earlier, but he was in no rush to leave. “With the present airspace restrictions in the Middle East, I am just waiting until the aircraft takes off. Then I will go home,” he said.

While the situation at Hyderabad airport largely remained normal, the uncertainty followed sweeping airspace restrictions imposed across the Middle East after the United States and Israel launched a major attack on Iran on February 28. Iran retaliated soon after, triggering a chain reaction that saw multiple countries closing or restricting their airspace. Iran and Israel shut their airspace early in the day with Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, Oman and Syria following in quick succession.

The ripple effects were clearly visible at Hyderabad airport, which serves as a key hub connecting India with West Asian and Middle Eastern destinations. According to information provided by airport authorities, a total of 48 flights to and from Hyderabad were cancelled on March 1. These included 25 departures and 23 arrivals.

At the departure help desk, airport staff were dealing with stranded transit passengers. One Vietnamese traveller, who had flown in from Ho Chi Minh City and was scheduled to travel onward to Muscat with Hyderabad as her layover, learnt of her onward flight cancellation only after landing. “The passenger is not fluent in English. We are trying to get somebody who can help her figure out how to reschedule her flight,” said an individual manning the help desk.

An information screen displaying information of cancelled flights to multiple countries, as the airspace over the Middle Eastern region remains closed following the US and Israeli attacks on Iran in Hyderabad on Sunday. | Photo Credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR

Among the stranded passengers at Dubai airport was two-time Olympic medalist P.V. Sindhu. In a post on X at 7.10 a.m. on March 1, she wrote, “A few hours ago, there was an explosion close to where we were holed up at the airport. My coach had to quickly run out of the area as he was closest to the smoke and debris. It was an extremely tense and scary moment for all of us. We are safe now and have been moved to a more secure place.”