- Title: REPEAT: PERSONAL: Stranded travellers in Dubai wait out travel chaos
- Date: 2nd March 2026
- Summary: DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (MARCH 2, 2026) (REUTERS) EMIRATES AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC OF DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ENTRANCE TO DUBAI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT'S TERMINAL 3 EXTERIOR OF AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (English) PASSENGER STUCK IN TRANSIT, JAMES GASKIN, SAYING: "The general feeling is the longer it goes on, the more edgy people are getting. You can feel today, there's a bit mo
- Embargoed:
- Keywords: CONFLICT DUBAI IRAN ISRAEL PASSENGERS US WAR
- Location: DUBAI, UAE
- City: DUBAI, UAE
- Country: UAE
- Topics: Conflicts/War/Peace,Middle East
- Reuters ID: LVA001004802032026RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Tens of thousands of travellers across the Middle East were entering a third day of limbo on Monday (March 2) after escalating conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran disrupted flights worldwide and forced the closure of major airports in the region.
Many of those trapped in the Middle East were simply in transit.
Dubai, the world’s busiest international hub which handles more than 1,000 flights a day, and nearby Doha and Abu Dhabi sit at the crossroads of east‑west air travel. They funnel long‑haul traffic between Europe and Asia through tightly scheduled connecting flights.
In Dubai, James Gaskin spent Monday morning arranging his clothes and washing a collection of novelty socks in his hotel bathroom sink.
After a week in India for work, the 53-year-old procurement manager from northern England was already short of clean clothes when his connecting flight back to Britain was cancelled on Saturday (February 28). He was taken to a local hotel with hundreds of other passengers.
Like many of them, Gaskin said he had little idea what was unfolding when he landed at Dubai airport.
The baggage hall descended into chaos, he said, as passengers pulled bags off carousels, seeking their own.
“Even though it was pandemonium, I was pretty relaxed,” he said.
But then “there were quite a few bangs, the airport got hit," he said. "That brought it home.”
British friends Julie Hardy and Francis McKay, who had been on a two-week tour of southern India, were staying at the same low-rise hotel near the airport.
On Saturday night, two alarms went off on Hardy's phone and she rushed to the hotel lobby in her pajamas.
“That was very frightening for us because we're not used to that sort of thing,” she said.
The UAE's civil aviation authority said it assisted about 20,200 travellers on Saturday. Data shows at least 4,000 flights were cancelled in the space of three days.
On Saturday, U.S. and Israel jointly bombarded Iran and killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in an air strike, leading to an escalating conflict in the Gulf.
(Production: Raghed Waked, Lucy Craymer, Abdelhadi Ramahi) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2026. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None