The outbreak of serious hostilities in the Middle East, centered on escalating conflict involving Iran and other regional powers, has thrown one of the world’s busiest flight corridors into chaos. Civil aviation — normally a smooth and interconnected network of international links — has been interrupted across multiple countries. This disruption has had a direct impact on carriers such as Middle East Airlines (MEA), Lebanon’s national airline, as well as major Gulf carriers.

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As tensions and military confrontations intensify across parts of the Middle East, the aviation sector has seen significant disruptions. Airlines, governments, and international aviation authorities are grappling with safety concerns, rapidly changing flight plans, and economic fallout as the region’s airspace becomes increasingly volatile.

Qatar Airways flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Qatar Airways will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace. A further update will be provided on 03 March by 09:00 Doha time (06:00 UTC). Passengers are advised to monitor the latest flight information via qatarairways.com or the Qatar Airways mobile app.

Global airlines suspended flights across the Middle East on Saturday after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, plunging the region into a renewed military confrontation. Flight maps showed the airspace over Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and Bahrain virtually empty as Israel said it struck Iran and the U.S. military initiated a series of strikes against targets in the country. Iran retaliated with a salvo of missiles.