Middle East flight cancellations exceed 50 percent since February amid ongoing regional disruption

UPDATE: 16/03/2026

Air travel disruption across the Middle East remains significant as new data released by Cirium shows widespread cancellations continuing across regional airline networks as of 16 March 2026.

According to the latest analysis of departing flights from the Middle East, excluding Türkiye and intra regional services, a total of 57,223 flights were scheduled between 28 February and 16 March. Of these, 28,990 flights were cancelled or did not operate, representing a cancellation rate of 50.66%.

While disruption remains high across the region, the latest daily figures suggest some gradual improvement. On 16 March, 2,544 flights were scheduled to depart Middle Eastern airports, with 604 cancellations recorded by 17:30 local time in Dubai. This represents a cancellation rate of 23.74%, significantly lower than levels recorded earlier in the month.

At the peak of disruption in early March, daily cancellation rates exceeded 65%. On 3 March, 2,341 flights were cancelled from a total of 3,560 scheduled departures, representing 65.76% of operations. Similar levels were recorded on 1 March and 2 March, when more than 65% of flights failed to operate.

Airline level data shows substantial variation in how carriers have been affected by the disruption.

Among the largest operators in the region, Qatar Airways has recorded one of the highest cancellation rates, with 2,664 of 2,895 scheduled flights cancelled since 28 February, representing 92.02% of planned operations.

Etihad Airways has cancelled 1,395 of 1,832 scheduled departures, a rate of 76.15%, while Emirates has cancelled 1,714 of 3,287 scheduled flights, representing 52.14%.

Other airlines experiencing major disruption include IndiGo with a cancellation rate of 76.24%, Air India Express with 78.23%, and El Al with 85.50% of flights cancelled during the same period.

By contrast, some regional airlines have maintained relatively stable operations. Saudia recorded cancellations on just 1.93% of flights, while Oman Air saw only 1.40% of scheduled departures cancelled.

Daily airline data for 16 March highlights the scale of ongoing disruption. Gulf Air cancelled all 108 of its scheduled flights, while Kuwait Airways cancelled 56 of 57 scheduled departures.

Meanwhile, British Airways cancelled 10 of its 15 scheduled flights for the day.

The data indicates that although disruption across the Middle East aviation network remains substantial, cancellation levels have gradually declined in recent days compared with the peak operational impact recorded at the beginning of March.

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