Dubai International Airport, the biggest global aviation hub, has suspended flights due to the “major combat operation” confirmed by Donald Trump against Iran.

The move comes after Iran and Iraq closed their airspaces in response to the escalating action, which has seen explosions across the Middle East with blasts reported in Bahrain and the UAE, which house US military bases, as well as in Jordan and Qatar.

The main airline at Dubai, Emirates, told passengers: “Emirates has temporarily suspended all operations to and from Dubai, up until 3pm UAE time [11am GMT] on Sunday, 1 March.

“If you are booked to travel in the next 72 hours, your options are:“Rebook on an alternate flight. You can rebook on another flight to your intended destination up to 10 days from your original date of travel.

“You can request for a refund of your ticket by completing the refund form if you booked with us directly. If you booked your flights with a travel agent, please contact them.

“We urge all customers to check flight status before proceeding to the airport.“

All other airlines using the airport are affected. British Airways passenger Mike Boreham was aboard flight BA108, preparing to depart from Dubai to Heathrow, when the captain announced airspace had closed.

“We were all boarded,” he told The Independent. “The flight is completely full. About 10 minutes after the ‘boarding complete’ announcement we were told airspace is closed.”

After the closure was announced, many flights heading for Dubai returned to their starting points, including Emirates from Dublin, Turkish Airlines to Istanbul and LOT to Warsaw – which was also the landing place for the Emirates inbound flight from Seattle.

On a typical day, around 250,000 passengers arrive and depart at Dubai.

The giant Gulf carrier Qatar Airways has also suspended all flights to and from its hub in Doha.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), the airline said: “Qatar Airways Group confirms the temporary suspension of its flights to, and from, Doha due to the closure of Qatari airspace.

“The airline is working closely with government stakeholders and the relevant authorities to support impacted passengers and will resume operations when the airspace re-opens.

“Once usual operations resume, we anticipate delays to our flight schedule.

“We have also deployed additional ground staff at Hamad International Airport and other key airports to assist affected passengers.

“The safety of our passengers and employees is always our highest priority, and we apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

In the Gulf region, Doha is second only to Dubai in terms of the number of flights and passengers handled.

Thousands of British passengers are affected by the airspace closure, including travellers who are returning home from locations in Asia, Australasia and Africa.

Inbound flights from Colombo and Dhaka have landed at Muscat in Oman. The inbound flight from Chicago is in Cairo, while the service from Boston landed in Athens.

Many Qatar Airways flights from Continental European airports have also returned to their starting points, including the departures from Berlin, Brussels, Zurich, Vienna, Warsaw, Barcelona, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dusseldorf, Brussels, Paris, Milan and Madrid.