Due to the fighting between Israel, the United States and Iran coming to military escalation in West Asia, airports are eerily quiet now that the departure boards have ceased to show flights departing from their airfields (approximately 350 flights were impacted by this conflict), creating a dramatic interruption to civil air travel for thousands of people who will now never be able to come home.
Complete Suspension to 11 Countries
All airlines in India have temporarily grounded all services to eleven different countries within West Asia. The decision followed fresh air strikes which occurred three times in the past 24 hours and an alert from the Directorate General Of Civil Aviation with a validity period running until 2nd March 20XX.
On Sunday, Air India alone had an effective cancellation of 50 international flights. On the same day, Air India had also cancelled another 20 long-haul services into other major cities of Europe, including London, Zurich, Milan, Frankfurt & Copenhagen. Thus, on top of previous cancellations affecting 28 routes into Canada & the U.S., Air India had a total of 78 cancellations possibly originating from plans to stop service from ‘.’, but not before being created.
As well as disrupting travel to the Gulf region, the cancellation of all flights resulted in disrupting all travel through almost all airports. This means thousands of travellers were stranded at their respective transit airports because with their flights having been cancelled, they had no means of being able to leave until airspace had re-opened in one or more areas.
Stranded in Gulf Hubs
Hundreds of Indian passengers were left stranded at the two busiest transit hubs in the world, in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, after the United Arab Emirates acted quickly in response to them being unable to fly out.
The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority announced that they would cover food and accommodation costs for stranded passengers for the duration of the suspension of their flights.
Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism ordered hotels to allow affected travellers to stay on the same booking as long as they could until the flights resumed, and Abu Dhabi’s government would cover hotel costs for the stranded travellers.
While these actions provided some sense of relief, the situation remains uncertain.
Oman Opens a Door
India’s embassy in Muscat has created a public advisory for alternate routes for the Indian residents of the GCC to access Oman with visa-free entry. All Indian passport holders with valid visas or residency permits from the US, UK, Canada, Japan, and Schengen countries have the ability to enter Oman for a maximum of ten (10) days without a pre-arranged visa. It is the hopes of our officials that this continues to relieve other airports of congestion.
Airlines are closely monitoring these developments, and travellers are advised to check with their respective airlines about their flight status prior to arriving at the airport.
The Middle East remains under pressure, and as the situation worsens, the civilian airspace in the West has lost significant volume as a direct result of an escalating conflict.
