War with Iran strands hundreds of thousands of travelers across the Middle East : NPR
Hundreds of thousands of travelers were stranded by the outbreak of war with Iran.
TO MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The war between Israel, the United States and Iran has led to the closure of airports in the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of travelers are stranded due to flight cancellations.
LEILA FADEL, HOST:
One of them is Oliver Sims IV. He was returning home to Dallas after a trip to India for a wedding. His connecting flight via Doha, Qatar, took off, but not for long.
OLIVER SIMS IV: I received a notification on my phone that the United States and Israel had begun strikes against Iran. And then about 30 minutes later the captain came on the loudspeaker and said we had to return to Doha due to some military conflicts and airspace restriction.
FADEL: His flight was one of many that left Doha and then turned around.
MARTÍNEZ: Sarah Gaither (ph) found herself in a similar situation and described the scene to us at Doha airport.
SARAH GAITHER: Lots of planes landed and the airport filled up very, very quickly. We all sat there for a very long time without any updates. And as people get frustrated with airlines, they need to remember that our airline is not the only one doing this. The entire Middle East is facing this problem.
FADEL: Henry Harteveldt is an airline industry analyst at Atmosphere Research Group. According to him, Doha and Dubai airports are among the largest in the world.
HENRY HARTEVELDT: Major airlines like Emirates, Etihad and Qatar operate global route networks. These disruptions are therefore felt almost everywhere in the world.
MARTÍNEZ: When NPR spoke with Sims and Gaither on Sunday, they were safe in hotel rooms. Nonetheless, Sims told us he was concerned about the missiles targeting Qatar.
SIMS IV: I feel very nervous about where I am. I thought I was going to be home now, and I didn’t think any military strike was going to take place, even when I was in the air on my way home to the United States.
FADEL: Gaither told us she did her best not to worry her family.
GAITHER: Last night I was on the phone with my mom and I was talking about what was going on in Dallas and all that, and I heard all the missiles going off, and I was like, I have to go. For example, missiles explode. Like, I’ll talk to you soon. And that really shook her up a bit.
FADEL: The last time we spoke, Gaither and Sims were both waiting to hear when the airspace could open up again so their travels could resume.
(SOUNDBITE OF JULIA KENT’S “GARDERMOEN”)
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