How Indian Travel Players are Navigating the U.S.-Iran Attack in Middle East


Skift Take

India's immediate west is now engulfed in an international armed conflict. Even as operations have partially resumed, a prolonged escalation will not only threaten India's connectivity, but will also have a sharp effect on its growing aviation sector.

The ongoing tensions in the Middle East following the attack by the U.S. and Israel on Iran has led to travel players in India scrambling to keep up. While India is itself not a part of the armed conflict, travel is significantly impacted due to India’s proximity to, and reliance on the Middle East for connectivity with the rest of the world.

According to India's Ministry of Civil Aviation, 357 scheduled flights from India were cancelled as major airports including Dubai, Doha, Tel Aviv, and Abu Dhabi were closed most of Monday.

By 10 pm IST on Monday, Dubai airport resumed partial operations and Emirates and Flydubai announced plans to operate a "limited number of flights" later. Abu Dhabi airport also announced partial resumption of flights on Monday.

However, Etihad is maintaining its suspension of all commercial flights to and from Abu Dhabi until Wednesday afternoon.

Indian airlines had taken precautionary measures to cancel flights t