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Conflict in the Middle East has put a stop to flights in and out of the region, with major operators declaring that air cargo operations are currently disrupted.
This is a developing story. Air Cargo News will make updates as more information becomes available.
Middle East carriers including Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad have suspended flights.
Qatar Airways said on its website: “Qatar Airways Cargo flight operations remain temporarily suspended due to the closure of Qatari airspace. Qatar Airways Cargo will resume operations once the Qatar Civil Aviation Authority announces the safe reopening of Qatari airspace.”
Emirates SkyCargo said: “Due to the current uncertain situation and evolving airspace restrictions, our flights are suspended until 1500hrs UAE time on Tuesday, 3 March, and we are placing temporary restrictions on the booking and acceptance of all new shipments on our flights for the next 24 hours.”
Meanwhile, Etihad stated: “Regional airspace closures continue to impact Etihad Airways’ operations, and all flights to and from Abu Dhabi are suspended until 14:00 UAE time on Tuesday 3 March.”
Oman Air Cargo added that it is experiencing some operational disruption, but general cargo operations continue as normal, though perishables transportation has been temporarily restricted.
“Services to Europe and the Asia Pacific region continue to operate as scheduled, with rerouting implemented where required and minor delays in some instances.”
Airlines headquartered outside the Middle East have also suspended operations. Lufthansa Cargo said that “Lufthansa Cargo, together with the Lufthansa Group, will suspend flights to Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Erbil, Dammam, and Tehran until March 8”.
Meanwhile, Turkish Cargo’s latest service update on 28 February indicated that some operations in the region were still taking place.
The carrier said: “Some of our flights to/from the following destinations have been cancelled: Bahrain, Dammam and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria and United Arab Emirates.”
IAG Cargo said that while flights between London and Jeddah and Riyadh “continue to operate as scheduled”, other flight routes have been put on hold.
“Flights between London and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, and Tel Aviv are suspended until 4th March 2026,” said the carrier in a service update.
It added: “Flights between London and Larnaca are suspended on 2nd March 2026. Flights between Madrid and Doha are suspended until 4th March 2026. Flights between Madrid and Tel Aviv are suspended until 10th March 2026.”
Rotate said its data shows global air cargo capacity is down 18% as a result of flights being suspended or rerouted.
In a LinkedIn post on 1 March, Tim van Leeuwen, vice president and head of consulting at Rotate said: “Having reported yesterday that around 12% of global air cargo capacity would be directly impacted by Middle East airspace closures, 24 hours later Rotate Live Capacity data shows global capacity down -18% in the last 24hrs compared to last week, driven by:
“1 Middle East carriers (Qatar Airways, Emirates, Etihad, etc.) suspending all flights – until at least Monday noon
“2 Other carriers no longer serving the Gulf, either, with no immediate redeployment options.
“3 Carriers re-routing freighters to different tech stops, or skipping them altogether (with accompanying payload restrictions). This explains the +22% capacity increase on Asia-Europe caused by airlines either switching tech stops to Central Asia, or flying direct instead.”
Further, Aevean’s research showed extensive airspace closures has resulted in air cargo capacity on the Asia-Middle East-Europe corridor decreasing by more than 40% week-on-week on some routes.
Data compared the weekend of 21-22 February to the weekend of 28 February-1 March.
Overall capacity, including Asia-Middle East-Europe and excluding intra-Asia and Africa-Europe, is down 26% in ACTK terms.
Direct Asia-Europe capacity was up 13-14%.
Comparing 21 February to 28 February, Aevean’s data showed China/Hong Kong–Europe capacity was up 34%, while indirect China/Hong Kong-Europe capacity via the Gulf was down 75%.
Several non-Gulf airports have also had strong indirect (enroute tech stop) capacity increases. Capacity is up 211% at Almaty International (ALA), 51% at Tbilisi International (TBS) and 23% at Istanbul (IST). Heydar Aliyev International in Baku (GYD) is down 69% due to its proximity to the Iranian border.
Fuel prices have jumped as well. The conflict has resulted in forced shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East.
20% of global jet fuel flows through Strait of Hormuz off Saudi Arabia and the premium for near-term jet fuel deliveries doubled over the weekend, noted Aevean.
Operational cancellations extend to ocean shipping too, according to advisories published by major container shipping companies.
MSC has suspended all cargo bookings to the Middle East.
CMA CGM said in an advisory on 28 February that all ships in the Gulf area should proceed to shelter and passage through the Suez Canal has been suspended until further notice, and vessels will be rerouted via the Cape of Good Hope.
It further stated on 1 March that all reefer bookings to a number of countries would be suspended with immediate effect.
Maersk also said on 1 March that it had paused Trans Suez sailings through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and all sailings on the ME11 (Middle East-India to Mediterranean) and MECL (Middle East-India to East Coast US) services would be rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope.