The war raging in the Middle East threatened to throw Easter travel into chaos on Tuesday as British Airways announced it had cancelled all flights in the region.
BA said it would scrap flights to and from the region due to the conflict between Iran, the US and Israel, on routes that typically serve thousands of travellers every day.
In an announcement, the airline said all flights to Amman in Jordan, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv have been cancelled until later this month. Flights to and from Abu Dhabi have been scrapped until later this year.
BA will also pause its repatriation flights from Muscat to London after Thursday because of “reduced demand” it said, with limited seats left on the final flights out of Oman on Wednesday and Thursday.
BA are the latest airline to indefinitely pause flights as the US presses on with a widespread bombing campaign in Iran aimed at instigating regime change. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday would be the most intense day of strikes since the war began on 28 February.
“Due to the continuing uncertainty of the situation in the Middle East and airspace instability, we’ve had to temporarily reduce our flying schedule in the region,” a spokesperson for the company said, adding that the schedule will be “kept under continuous review”.
Flights to Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai and Tel Aviv will be cancelled up to and including 28 March. They are also closed for sale to new customers from 29 March until 15 April.
Flights to Abu Dhabi, a seasonal flight, will not restart until October 2026.
The last BA repatriation flight, intended to bring back BA passengers who are stranded in the Gulf, will depart from the Omani capital on 12 March.
The services have been dedicated to customers with an existing booking from Middle East locations including Abu Dhabi and Dubai. But with regular flights departing on Etihad and Emirates, departing travellers are choosing not to make the five-hour journey across the desert – instead boarding a commercial jet at the nearest airport.
Airlines and businesses are facing further uncertainty after mixed signals from Washington over how long the conflict will last.
Mr Trump promised this week that the war would be a “short-term excursion” that would finish “very soon”, but later threatened Iran with “death, fire and fury” if it continues to disrupt maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Around 20 per cent of global oil supply passes through the route, making it key to the global economy.
Mr Hegseth, meanwhile, said the US “will not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated”.
He added: “But we do so on our timeline and at our choosing. For example, today will be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran.”
Mr Hegseth said that more fighter jets and bombers were being deployed to pound Iran as experts warned that the Islamic Republic could be playing a “war of attrition”, exhausting expensive US weaponry before using its better gear.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi signalled that Iran was no closer to backing down under US-Israeli pressure, telling PBS: “We are well prepared to continue attacking them with our missiles as long as needed and as long as it takes.”
Separately, the UK government announced that British warship HMS Dragon has left its naval base in Portsmouth for the eastern Mediterranean to protect Cyprus. The vessel left Portsmouth Harbour after 4pm on Thursday, a week after its deployment was announced.
The Type 45 destroyer is capable of shooting down drones and ballistic missiles fired by Iran and its proxies as the Middle East crisis continues.
