How Trump’s war on Iran has stranded millions of publications – and plunged the Gulf’s favorite playground into chaos

It was just after 1pm on Friday, February 28, and Samantha Logano was about to board her flight from Dubai to Colombo, Sri Lanka, when the drone attacks began.

You have already obtained your boarding pass and gone through customs. Her flight was at the gate and her bags were loaded. She was simply waiting for gate agents to open the flight for boarding. So I opened TikTok and started scrolling.

But instead of alleviating her boredom, the algorithm fueled her anxiety. It showed her dozens of videos of explosions allegedly from across the Persian Gulf – including a few in Dubai itself. She knew better than to believe everything she saw on social media, and she hadn’t heard anything from official sources yet. For now, she kept calm.

Then her friends back home started texting her: “Did you see what happened? They just closed the airspace.”

She told them not to worry. After all, she was on the ground in Dubai and nothing seemed wrong. Then, in an instant, the status of every flight on the airport’s departure control screen changed to flashing red.

“Cancelled, canceled, canceled,” she recalled. “Everything is cancelled.”

Dubai and the entire region have become a war zone. In response to a joint US and Israeli strike that morning, Iran did just that Missiles and drones were launched On targets across the Middle East, including Dubai. Most of them were intercepted by local defense systems. However, there is debris from the intercepted drones It caused damage throughout Dubai Four people were injured.

By early afternoon, civil airspace over the entire area was closed More than 3400 trips It has been cancelled.

Logano and several of her fellow passengers were now stranded. They no longer have valid visas to return to the UAE. They didn’t have accommodations lined up. They had no choice but to wait in the departure area until an official came up with a solution. Meanwhile, missiles and drones were falling overhead.

“They were really stranded,” she said.

Few places rely on air travel as much as the countries of the Arabian Gulf. The 700 miles of coastline between Kuwait and Dubai contains seven major international airports that together handle more than 220 million passengers annually. The vast majority are International travelerswhich are flown here by state-owned airlines including Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways.

This is no coincidence, according to Christian Coates Ulrichsen, a Middle East fellow at the Baker Institute at Rice University and co-director of the Baker Institute at Rice University. Middle East Energy Roundtable. Starting in the early 2000s, Gulf Coast states invested billions in expanding airport capacity and growing their airline networks.

“They have relied on infrastructure and technological advances to become these vital points on the map of 21st century aviation,” he said. Edge. “They saw that you could now connect any two points in the world with a stop in the Gulf, with the advent of these ultra-long-haul aircraft.”

The Gulf has two additional advantages as a central aviation hub. The first was geographical: it was already located less than eight hours by plane from 80 percent of the world’s population. The other factor was environmental: airport developers in the Gulf did not have to deal with environmental regulations as their American and European counterparts did. (For example, London Heathrow Airport is trying to add a third runway.) Since 2009; I just got approved Expansion in November 2025.)

Since then, Gulf airports have steadily taken over their share of the rest of the world’s airport hubs. The turning point came in 2015, when Dubai overtook London Heathrow as an airport The busiest airport in the world For international travelers. An alliance of American, Canadian and European airlines Everyone warned They were Losing ground quickly To their competitors in the Gulf Coast.

As for the rest of the world’s loss, it was a gain for the Gulf, especially in the Emirates. Forty years ago, it was dependent on oil Petrostat. Today the aviation industry contributes to it More than its GDP Of oil. With more travel comes more economic diversification, including many of the flashier industries now associated with the state: Real estate, diamond, CryptocurrencyAnd, most importantly of all, Social media.

Others in the region are trying to follow the UAE’s example. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Iraq have committed more than 150 billion dollars To build six new international airports that will rival Dubai Airport in size. According to Airports Council International, the Middle East will become the fastest growing region in the world Aviation area this yearSuperior to Latin America and Africa.

But growth depends on one thing: calm skies. This has continued over the past 20 years, thanks in part to the large US military presence in the region Informal agreement to spare civilian targets In the event of an actual conflict.

But that agreement ended on Friday, February 28, when America and Israel attacked, and Iranian leaders established their “alliance.”Mosaic strategy“To retaliate. For the first time, Iran launched attacks on economic and military targets, including airports.

So far, attacks have occurred Nearly 20,000 flights were disrupted, leaving nearly a million people stranded. Every hit was Captured on video And every expatriate from She posted a reaction on social media It caused a different kind of damage to Dubai and its neighbors. They permanently shattered the area’s image as the only place you could go if you wanted to feel like an outcast.

Natalia Isaac and Thomas BrosioBoth from Poland, they came to Qatar to experience this feeling. They were sunbathing on Doha’s West Bay beach when the government broadcast the first emergency alert.

“Every phone on the beach started ringing,” Isaac recalls. “Then we got a second and third alert.”

“After the third explosion, there was an explosion,” Brosio said.

They took an Uber to their hotel and exchanged contact information with their driver just in case.

After a frustrating three-hour wait with Qatar Airways and a trip to the airport customer service desk, they received a voucher to extend their hotel stay. But no one knew when they would be able to leave.

“We didn’t want to stay in this situation,” Isaac said. “We wanted to go out on our own.”

Two days later, they called their Uber driver. He said he could fly them in the morning to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where at least some international flights are still operating. He would arrange their visas, drive them to the border, and ask his cousin to take them the rest of the way to Riyadh.

They successfully crossed the border and arrived in Riyadh just before midnight, well before their scheduled flight back to Poland at 6am the next day. But another wave of attacks temporarily closed Riyadh’s airspace.

After a 12-hour wait, they were able to leave, approximately three days after the original departure date. Despite their ordeal, they are considering traveling to the Middle East again. But they prefer to wait until the threat of war recedes.

“To be honest, we would love to come back,” Brosio said. “We really enjoyed Qatar.”

Not everyone was so lucky. As of this writing, Samantha Logano is still in Dubai after eight days. However, she says she doesn’t have much to complain about. Within hours of canceling her flight, the government tourism office issued her an emergency visa and gave her a free hotel room for as long as she needed it.

“I feel grateful to be in this situation in Dubai,” she said. “It’s the safest place.”

Dubai Airport is now operating at approximately half capacity, although other airports remain functionally closed. The day before the conflict began, Qatar Airways operated 583 flights from Doha. Today, that Plans to run only 16.

This turmoil has already begun to erode the Gulf’s image as an international playground. High-end sushi restaurants It stopped receiving Japanese fish shipments. Formula 1 may Postponing two upcoming races in Bahrain and Saudi ArabiaBecause teams can’t They fly their equipment to the race locations. Hotels are largely empty, with average occupancy rates falling to a low level 20 percent.

No one knows whether the war will end tomorrow or in a month. But it is clear that one of the world’s busiest air corridors will remain effectively closed until that happens.