Nobody is flying through Doha, or Dubai, or Abu Dhabi, or anywhere within about 3,000 kilometres of the Persian Gulf right now, unless they\u2019re on a military aircraft or an extremely optimistic repatriation flight.<\/p>
Since late February, US and Israeli strikes on Iranian military targets have triggered the most significant airspace shutdown most of us have seen in our lifetimes. Iran, Iraq, Israel, Kuwait, Syria, Bahrain, Qatar and the UAE are all closed or heavily restricted to civilian traffic. Emirates, Etihad and Qatar Airways are operating skeleton schedules at best. Cathay Pacific<\/a> has pulled Dubai and Riyadh flights until the end of April. <\/p> Even Qantas had to kill its famous non-stop Perth to London service, splitting it into two legs via Singapore because the 787-9 can\u2019t carry a full payload on the longer detour around Iranian airspace.<\/p> For Australians, this is a massive headache. We\u2019ve spent the last decade routing the vast majority of our European travel through Gulf hubs. That corridor is gone, at least for now, and nobody can tell you when it\u2019s coming back.<\/p>