No fewer than 560 passengers travelling from Nigeria have been stranded following widespread airspace closures across parts of the Middle East, triggered by escalating hostilities involving the United States, Israel, and Iran.
The affected passengers, who had checked in with their luggage and arrived at airports last Saturday for outbound international flights, remain grounded after several countries shut their airspace amid missile exchanges and heightened military tensions in the region.
Some of the travellers were scheduled to fly with Qatar Airways and Emirates through Middle Eastern hubs before the sudden disruption forced a halt to operations.
Both airlines were expected to deploy wide-body aircraft for the flights, including a Boeing 777-300ER operated by Emirates, which has a seating capacity of between 354 and 360 passengers, while Qatar Airways was scheduled to airlift between 210 and 250 passengers with its B787-800.
Using the minimum capacity figures of 344 and 210 passengers for both carriers, the number of stranded passengers could be estimated at about 554 at the least.
After the war started, Syria reportedly closed portions of its southern airspace bordering Israel for several hours, while Jordan’s Air Force conducted defensive drills and announced it intercepted ballistic missiles. Kuwait also shut its airspace after engaging incoming threats.
Russia’s air transport authority, Rosaviatsia, subsequently suspended all commercial flights to Israel and Iran until further notice, compounding global aviation disruptions.
