Airspace closures in the Middle East are disrupting hundreds of thousands of airline passengers globally, with a leading aviation consultant describing the situation as "a mess".
Several Middle Eastern airports act as hubs for passengers travelling between Europe and the continents of Asia and Australia.
All flights scheduled to operate between Dublin Airport and airports in the Middle East today have been cancelled by airlines.
daa Head of Media Relations Graeme McQueen said between 5,000 to 6,000 passengers have been impacted so far by cancelled flights.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, he said Dublin is a hub airport and has around 12 to 14 flights going to Middle East destinations every day.
Twenty-three flights between Dublin and Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi were cancelled on Saturday and yesterday.
Analytics company Cirium said 1,579 out of 3,990 flights scheduled to operate to the Middle East yesterday were cancelled.
This included 747 flights to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and 285 flights to Qatar.
About half a million passengers use airports in Dubai, Doha or Abu Dhabi each day.
UK-based aviation consultant John Strickland said the disruption was "pretty unprecedented".
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He said: "The Gulf carriers are now so fundamental to much of global aviation, not least east-west flows between Europe and Asia.
"I can't recall a situation, other than the pandemic, where we've had these Gulf hubs out of action in this way before.
"We've had other conflicts in the region, but not, I think, really in the scale of military conflict or scale of activity that we have now with the Gulf carriers."
Mr Strickland said that "hundreds of thousands of people" in Dubai or other Middle Eastern hub airports "weren't supposed to be there".
He said flight options to Asia for passengers in Europe who want to avoid the Middle East include using airlines that fly straight to countries such as Thailand and Singapore.
But he warned there is "not much space" on these flights as they usually operate with most seats booked, and airlines have "very little spare capacity available".
Mr Strickland added: "There's uncertainty about how long it's going to last.
"It's all a real complex web, and a mess."
Organisers of this weekend's Australian Grand Prix said they are confident the event will not be disrupted by the travel chaos, despite many members of staff being forced to rearrange flights.
Travel stocks tumble as US-Iran war sparks worst disruption since pandemic
Travel shares tumbled as escalating conflict between the US, Israel and Iran disrupted flights worldwide, forced the closure of key Middle Eastern hubs and sent oil prices surging, with analysts warning of weeks of disruption.
Dubai, the world's busiest international hub, and Doha remained shut for a third day, leaving tens of thousands of passengers stranded as aviation faced its biggest challenge since the Covid pandemic.
Jordan today became the latest country in the region to partially close its airspace.
Oil prices jumped 7% to their highest in months raising the prospect of higher fuel costs for airlines.
Shares in TUI, Europe's largest travel company, were down 8.5%, while Lufthansa was down 6.5% and British Airways-owner IAG down 4.8%.
Hotelier Accor and cruise company Carnival also fell sharply.
US airline shares dropped around 5% in pre-market trade.
Below is the latest on flights listed by airline popular with Irish passengers:
AIR FRANCE KLM Air France cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Dubai and Riyadh until 3 March. KLM said its flights to and from Dubai, Riyadh and Dammam may be disrupted until 6 March and flights to and from Tel Aviv were suspended.
BRITISH AIRWAYS IAG-owned British Airways said customers flying between London and Abu Dhabi, Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai or Tel Aviv until 15 March can change their flight date free of charge to travel on or before 29 March. Those travelling up to 8 March may also request a full refund.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS The carrier said it all commercial flights to and from its Abu Dhabi hub remain cancelled.
LUFTHANSA The German airline suspended flights to and from Tel Aviv, Beirut, Amman, Dammam, Erbil and Tehran until 8 March and flights to and from Dubai until 4 March.
SINGAPORE AIRLINES The Singaporean carrier said it had cancelled flights to and from Dubai until 7 March. Its low-cost airline Scoot cancelled flights to and from Jeddah until 7 March.
QATAR AIRWAYS The airline said it temporarily suspended flights to and from Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace.
TURKISH AIRLINES The airline cancelled some flights to and from Bahrain, Dammam, Riyadh, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Syria and United Arab Emirates.
