DUBAI/DOHA: Operations at two of the world’s busiest airports in Doha and Dubai slowed to a crawl on Tuesday as thousands of travellers queued for hours, facing long delays and flight cancellations after the temporary closure of airspace a day earlier.
Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait shut their airspace late on Monday after Iran’s strike on a US military base in Qatar’s capital Doha, forcing airlines to cancel or reroute hundreds of flights and creating a backlog of stranded passengers.
Airports across Dubai in the United Arab Emirates briefly halted operations.
US President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Israel and Iran was in place and asked both sides not to violate it, raising hopes of an end to the 12-day war, but hostilities continued, with deadly attacks reported in both countries.
“I haven’t slept for 19 hours. And I’ve been in this line over nine hours,” said Lily Rogers, 21, who was in an around 200 metres (656 feet) queue in Doha’s Hamad International airport.
The psychology student, en route to an holiday in Southeast Asia, said those in line were only given water during the wait.
Virgin Australia estimated that over 25,000 passengers were stranded at Doha airport.
Lines were so long that arguments broke out as some passengers jumped queues, according to a Reuters witness.
Around 250 flights were cancelled at Hamad airport, while another 238 were delayed, according to flight tracking website FlightRadar24.
Long queues formed also at Dubai International, the busiest airport in the world, where about 145 flights were cancelled and over 450 delayed, FlightRadar24 data showed.
Qatar Airways said it was “making progress in restoring its schedule” with possible disruptions until June 26.
Dubai Airports and the Dubai government media office were not immediately available for comment.
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