Just a quick look at the data from Cirium on the impact of the Middle East conflict on the aviation industry is quite shocking. Over 4 million seats have been removed from schedules since the escalation at the end of February. This figure is equivalent to more than 2 million seats canceled just for arriving flights, with a similar number for departing flights.

What caught my attention most is that 56% of arriving flights have been canceled — nearly 10,300 flights. This creates an emergency situation as hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals need to be evacuated. The UK alone has over 130,000 citizens registered in the area, and they have had to organize government repatriation flights by chartering British Airways planes.

Oman has become a hub of activity, with one of the highest operational flight rates — 80% of seats from Muscat are still able to take off. Oman Air even provided bus services from Sharjah to help passengers connect with flights departing from that airport. They advise everyone to arrive at the border at least 12 hours early, as traffic remains very heavy.

Meanwhile, major airlines like Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways, and Air Arabia have had to suspend operations until mid-March. But the UAE quickly opened emergency corridors — the Minister of Economy reported that nearly 17,500 passengers on 60 flights were successfully transported by midweek.

In fact, the number of seats affected in this event is a clear indicator of the level of disruption the aviation industry is facing. When airspace is closed in most regions, the entire passenger transportation system is paralyzed, and evacuating millions becomes a huge logistical challenge.