US strikes on Iran add to global travel disruptions and flight cancellations

Delta jet taking off.
A Delta airplane sets off from the Hartsfield-Jackson International South terminal on June 4, 2023. (Matthew Pearson/WABE)

The U.S. entry into Israel’s war with Iran caused travel disruptions to pile up globally this week — with flight cancellations continuing Tuesday, even after President Donald Trump claimed a ceasefire was “in effect.”

Following unprecedented bombings ordered by Trump on three Iranian nuclear and military sites over the weekend, Iran on Monday launched a limited missile attack on U.S. forces at Qatar’s Al Udeid Air Base. Qatar, which was quick to condemn the attack, temporarily closed its airspace just hours earlier.

Airports and skies throughout the region have been on edge since Israel began the deadly war on June 13 — with a surprise barrage of attacks on Iran, which responded with its own missile and drone strikes. And in the days following the escalatory U.S. strikes, more and more carriers canceled flights, particularly in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, which sit just across the Persian Gulf from Iran.