Defense startup Anduril is responsible for one of the “principal” systems used against the Iranian Shahed drone during Operation Epic Fury, per the company’s president.
Matthew Steckman, who is also chief business officer for the startup, said in a podcast appearance on Monday that Anduril has been “for the most part, a defensive company in the Middle East” as the war rages into its fourth week.
“We’re heavy participants in the current conflict in the Middle East, mainly on the defensive side,” Steckman said to Harry Stebbings, host of the “20VC” show.
Steckman declined to say which systems are being used in the fight and which specific combat scenarios these weapons are addressing.
He did, however, mention the Shahed long-range loitering munition as a key threat.
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“So if you’ve read about the Shahed drone, as an example, we’re one of the principal systems to defend against that threat in the Middle East,” Steckman said.
The company’s cofounder, Palmer Luckey, previously confirmed to Axios in the war’s second week that Anduril was involved in the conflict, but declined to name any systems.
Anduril offers a suite of sensors, hard-kill interceptors, and jammers, but only some of them would be typically effective against larger, Group-3 drones such as the Shahed.
For example, the company sells a 360-degree sensor called the Wisp, which uses infrared to detect drones, and a jet-powered drone called the Roadrunner, which is supposed to fly into cruise missiles or larger uncrewed aircraft and destroy them.
It’s unclear if either of these systems was deployed in the Middle East recently. Anduril also provides an AI-powered battle management system, Lattice, that interfaces with all its weapons.
Last week, Lattice was selected by the US Army under a $87 million contract to link its counter-drone systems and enable troops and agents to share data quickly.
Iran has launched thousands of Shahed drones at American forces and their allies in the Middle East after the US and Israel began Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
The sheer number of aerial threats, paired with salvos of Iranian missiles, has raised concerns that the US is depleting its already thin stockpiles of conventional defensive munitions and is not fully prepared to deal with the drone threat.
The Pentagon has since shifted counter-drone assets and teams to defend bases in the Middle East. Ukraine, leveraging years of experience fighting thousands of Russian-made Shaheds, has also sent several hundred experts to the region to assist the Gulf states and the US.
Air travel is only getting more complex due to the Iran war.
Eleven days since the first strikes, some flights have restarted after the UAE partially reopened its airspace. However, cancellations and rising ticket prices spell headaches for travelers.
Dubai is leading the restoration of flights in the region.
Its airline, Emirates, operated less than 60% as many flights on Wednesday as on February 27, according to data from Flightradar24. That’s compared to 11% and 17% for Qatar Airways and Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways, respectively.
Emirates said last Friday it “anticipates a return to 100% of its network within the coming days.”
However, it still may not be plain sailing for customers. Flights into Dubai are often forced to circle around before landing due to Iranian drones or missiles.
Early on Wednesday, four people were injured when two drones fell near Dubai International Airport, the world’s second busiest airport for international passenger traffic last year.
Hours later, several inbound flights were again forced to enter holding patterns for 55 minutes.
“Safety, as ever, remains paramount as is our duty of care,” Emirates said in its statement.
Meanwhile, British Airways has canceled flights to the Middle East until at least March 28 — and to Abu Dhabi until “later this year.”
KLM, the Dutch flag carrier, canceled all flights to Dubai until March 28.
Rising ticket prices
Passengers flying in and out of the Middle East aren’t the only travelers affected, either.
“In general, it is likely airfares will increase in the short term, depending on the duration of the war,” Hans Jørgen Elnæs, an aviation analyst and advisor, told Business Insider.
Jet fuel is getting more expensive as oil prices have experienced huge volatility. Brent crude was around $90 a barrel on Wednesday morning — up 50% since the start of the year.
The Gulf airlines have become popular for offering stopovers between Europe and Asia, but many travelers are now looking for direct flights instead.
High demand and lower capacity have led to a “significant spike” in airfares on these routes, Elnæs said. “These ticket prices are not sustainable over time, in my view,” he added.
Thai Airways is raising ticket prices by 10% to 15% due to “overwhelming” demand and rising fuel costs, Chief Financial Officer Cherdchom Therdthirasak said Wednesday.
Also, Malaysia Airlines last week deployed additional flights from Kuala Lumpur to London and Paris.
The Middle East is also a vital air corridor for overflights, but airplanes have been forced to reroute north over the Caucasus or further west over Saudi Arabia.
Until at least next Wednesday, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has banned European operators from flying over the region — including Saudi Arabia and Oman, whose airspace remains open.
The Indian budget airline IndiGo is taking some particularly long detours; its flight from Mumbai to England is up to two hours longer than before.
That’s partially because it leases airplanes and crew from Norse Atlantic Airways for this journey. As it is a Norwegian airline, the EASA rules require it to fly over East Africa to avoid the Arabian Peninsula.
Some travelers look elsewhere
The World Travel & Tourism Council said Wednesday that it estimates the conflict is already negatively impacting the Middle East to the tune of at least $600 million a day in international visitor spending.
“It is too early to define the long-term impact on the Gulf region’s airlines and tourism. But in the worst case, if the war continues over time, it will hit hard on airlines, tourism, and GDP,” Elnæs told Business Insider.
“If airfares increase too much, it will hit demand, so the airlines need to find a balance here.”
United Airlines is seeing more people transit through the US between Oceania and Europe.
Kevin Carter/Getty Images
The conflict has already prompted people to find new ways to travel between Europe and Oceania, such as taking a layover in the US. This is known as the Southern Cross Route and was formerly popular in the mid-20th century.
“Each day this week, we have booked over 1,000 people from Australia and New Zealand to Europe. Last year, we booked less than one a day,” United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby said at a Harvard event last Thursday, according to CNBC.
Some Europeans are also reconsidering where to vacation over the spring vacation period.
“We’ve seen, certainly, there’s a big collapse in bookings to the Middle East, and a big surge in bookings on short-haul airlines within Europe,” said Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary.
Due to their cheaper tickets and strategy of hedging against fuel-price increases, such low-cost airlines often gain market share during geopolitical crises, Elnæs told Business Insider.
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Several airlines are suspending flight routes to destinations in the Middle East well in advance.
British Airways cut flights to Abu Dhabi until later this year and others until later this month.
While some airlines are canceling routes, others are operating at a more limited capacity.
The travel fallout from the war in Iran continues, with several airlines canceling flights to the Middle East weeks in advance or more.
Thousands of flights were canceled across the region following the US-Israel attack on Iran on February 28 and subsequent retaliatory strikes. While some flights have resumed and many travelers who got stranded in places like Abu Dhabi and Doha have made it out, the travel disruptions are ongoing.
Industry experts previously told Business Insider that the lasting impacts on tourism and global travel will likely depend on how long the war lasts, as well as how it ends. Canceled flights to Dubai International Airport, which serves as a common connector for routes between Europe, Asia, and Africa, could especially have a ripple effect.
While some airlines are canceling routes altogether, others are continuing to operate but in a more limited capacity. Some airlines have also added repatriation flights to help stranded travelers get home.
Here are the airlines that have suspended services to some destinations in the Middle East.
British Airways
British Airways said Tuesday it was canceling flights to Amman, Bahrain, Doha, Dubai, and Tel Aviv until later this month, and to and from Abu Dhabi until later this year.
It’s unclear when the flights will resume. Flights from London to Abu Dhabi appeared to be bookable on the airline’s website starting April 16.
British Airways also said it had limited seats remaining on its repatriation flights from Oman to London on March 11 and 12 for customers with existing bookings.
“Following these dates, the flights will pause due to reduced demand but will be kept under continuous review,” the airline said.
An update for our customers – 10 March.
Be alert to potential scams and only rely on official British Airways channels for updates – never click suspicious links or share personal or payment details. pic.twitter.com/N0ec4GqFnk
Air Canada has canceled all flights to and from Dubai through March 28 and to Tel Aviv through May 2 due to the conflict.
“If you are in either of these regions, please do not head to the airport. Your safety is our top priority,” the airline said in a statement last week.
(1/2) Due to the military situation in the Middle East, we have now cancelled our Toronto-Tel Aviv flight until May 2, and Toronto-Dubai until at least March 28, both inclusive. We are monitoring the situation and will adjust our schedule accordingly.
Virgin Atlantic canceled its service to Dubai for the remainder of its usual season, or until March 28. The British airline, which typically only operates flights to Dubai seasonally, said in a statement that “the recent escalation in the Middle East has brought forward the end of our operation for this season.”
Virgin also said Sunday it was canceling its flights to Riyadh for the next two weeks.
Oman Air
Oman Air said Sunday it was canceling all flights to and from the following locations through March 15: Amman, Dubai, Bahrain, Doha, Dammam, Kuwait, Copenhagen, Baghdad, and Khasab.
The airline also said it was operating extra flights to and from Muscat during that time, including to London, Istanbul, Cairo, and other destinations in Europe and Asia.
⚠️ Dear valued guests,
Due to ongoing regional airspace closures, the following flights have been cancelled:
Monday, 9 March through Sunday, 15 March 2026:
All flights to and from Amman (AMM), Dubai (DXB), Bahrain (BAH), Doha (DOH), Dammam (DMM), Kuwait (KWI), Copenhagen… pic.twitter.com/eemDExKHXD
Oman Air continues to serve its network from Muscat. To support our guests, extra flights from/to Muscat will operate between 10–15 March to the following destinations: 📍 London Heathrow 📍 Istanbul 📍 Cairo 📍 Rome 📍 Frankfurt 📍 Kuala Lumpur 📍 Bangkok 📍 Munich 📍 Amsterdam… pic.twitter.com/db7QFXiEAB
Air France said Monday it was canceling flights to and from Dubai and Riyadh until March 12, and to and from Tel Aviv and Beirut until March 13.
Lufthansa
Lufthansa said this it was suspending flights to and from the following locations: Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Dammam until March 15 and Tel Aviv until April 2.
Previously the airline said it was suspending flights to and from Amman and Erbil until March 15, Beirut until March 28, and Tehran until April 30.
Lufthansa said flights to and from Riyadh and Jeddah would continue.
Finnair
Finnair canceled all its flights to and from Doha and Dubai between February 28 and March 29.
The US Army is deploying an American-made counter-drone system that has intercepted more than 1,000 Shahed-type drones in Ukraine to the Middle East, two defense officials confirmed on Saturday to Business Insider.
One of the US officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss military developments, said that the Merops system will arrive in the Middle East within a week. Once it arrives, it’ll be ready for combat in a matter of days.
They declined to say how many systems the US is sending to the Middle East, only that the deployment will include a large quantity of interceptors.
The counter-drone system, which uses a roughly $15,000 interceptor, would give US and allied forces a much cheaper air defense option against Iranian drones, compared to expensive surface-to-air missiles.
The weapon’s deployment to the region comes as Iran has launched thousands of cheap attack drones at the US military and its allies across the Middle East after the US and Israel began Operation Epic Fury on February 28.
The Shahed drones, which cost roughly $20,000 to $50,000 according to available estimates, complicate the air defense picture.
In significant quantities, they can overwhelm even advanced air defense systems, or at the very least force Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) crews to expend millions of dollars in interceptors to defeat a threat only a fraction of that cost.
How the Merops works
The Merops counter-drone system launches a propeller-driven drone called the Surveyor, which is a few feet long, can be carried by a single soldier, and uses artificial intelligence to navigate in jammed environments.
The overall system includes the Surveyor interceptor, a ground control station, and launch stations — all operated by a four-man crew with a commander, a pilot, and two technicians.
Its developer, the American initiative Project Eagle, says the Merops is tailor-made for taking down propeller-driven and jet-powered drones like the Shahed. So far, it’s logged over 1,000 kills against such uncrewed aircraft.
The Surveyor can fly at speeds of over 175 mph, meaning it’s more than fast enough to catch Iran’s commonly used propeller-driven Shahed-136, which flies at around 115 mph. Jet-powered versions of the Shahed reportedly fly as fast as 230 mph and are more challenging threats.
If the Surveyor, which can be mounted with a small explosive warhead, fails to hit its target, it can deploy a parachute to allow retrieval and relaunch of the drone.
A Surveyor drone can be retrieved if it fails to hit any targets.
Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images
When Business Insider observed a demonstration of the Merops in Poland last year, one of the launchers was mounted on the back of a pickup truck.
A push for interceptor drones
According to one of the defense officials Business Insider spoke with, US forces in the Middle East are to be trained by Army soldiers from Europe to operate the Merops. The system is also being sent to countries in the region where US troops are not deployed.
The second defense official said that Merops’ use in Ukraine has provided the Army with air defense information that has already proven valuable in Eastern Europe and will now be useful for the Middle East.
US Army soldiers in Europe have taught NATO allies how to operate the Merops system, which was deployed to the alliance’s eastern flank following Russian drone incursions into Polish airspace.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday that his country had received a direct request from the US for help with countering Shahed drones.
Zelenskyy shared that he “gave instructions to provide the necessary means and ensure the presence of Ukrainian specialists who can guarantee the required security.”
Over the past year, Kyiv has focused heavily on building and deploying an arsenal of cheap interceptor drones to counter Russia’s versions of the Shahed, which the Kremlin launches in hundreds-strong waves at times.
Ukrainian interceptor drones cost around $2,500 each, and Zelenskyy has said that his country makes 1,000 of them a day.
All of these broader developments come amid the backdrop of President Donald Trump saying in an early morning TruthSocial post on Saturday that Iran had agreed to stop attacking US allies in the region.
“Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore,” he wrote. The president also threatened additional action against Iran, warning that the US is going to hit it harder.
Emilia Vasquez, a business development manager for Goodwill, landed in Dubai on Thursday, February 26. She and her 6-year-old son had flown in to celebrate her birthday, and they were planning to stay until Tuesday.
Two days later, the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran, and everything changed — across the Middle East, airspaces shut down, airports closed, and thousands of travelers, like Vasquez, found themselves stuck in place.
As they navigated the logistics of getting stranded, they also faced another issue: the cost of getting stranded.
In a statement on March 1, the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates, or GCAA, announced that the State would be bearing “all hosting and accommodation costs for affected and stranded passengers.” The announcement did not specify how or when travelers would be reimbursed.
For Vasquez, the flight cancellations meant watching her hotel stay grow longer by the day. She was staying at Taj Dubai hotel, a 5-star hotel near the Dubai Mall, and spending about $500 a day, roughly $300 of which went to her hotel bill. As of Thursday, she had spent $6,800.
With bills racking up and no immediate money from the Emirati government, she was only a few thousand dollars away from her credit card limit.
“I’m being responsible for paying for this hotel, the hotel literally telling us that if I cannot afford the hotel to leave and go somewhere else,” Vasquez told Business Insider on Wednesday. “I don’t feel safe to leave the hotel and go somewhere else. So I’ve been extending the days every day.”
With some airlines slowly resuming limited service out of the region, Vasquez managed to leave Dubai on Friday, but for many of the travelers who remain on the ground, bills continue to mount and confusion remains about whether they will be saddled with or reimbursed for these bills.
The Abu Dhabi and Dubai tourist ministries did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider. The General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates did not respond to a request for comment.
‘We’re just trying to be as cheap as possible’
Fate Show and her father in the Dubai Mall China Town.
Courtesy of Fate Show
While some well-heeled visitors paid six figures to get out of Dubai, others have been funding their extended stays through a mix of credit cards, airline-provided vouchers, and crowdfunding.
As of Saturday, two of the region’s biggest airlines — Emirates and Etihad — have resumed limited flight schedules, prioritizing existing customers. Qatar Airlines remained grounded with the exception of limited flights to Doha. While the airlines haven’t released guidance around obtaining hotel vouchers, several travelers said they’ve been able to receive them.
Fate Show, a Ph.D. student, was flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Londonwith her dad after seeing her family for Chinese New Year. Their flight was scheduled to stop in Dubai on Saturday afternoon. When she arrived at the airport, she was met with chaos.
Emirates canceled their flight to London and provided a voucher to cover food and a hotel stay at the S Hotel Al Barsha, a 4-star hotel about 20 minutes from Dubai International Airport.
That voucher lasted four nights. On Tuesday, after the voucher ran out,they switched hotels to the Hampton by Hilton Dubai Al Barsha, where they paid for their stay out of pocket. The room, with two single beds, cost $112 a night and included breakfast.
They are trying to limit additional spending on food to $30 a day.
“We’re not trying to do anything fancy,” she said. “We’re just trying to be as cheap as possible.”
She and her father tried to buy new tickets home, but said they were too expensive. On Friday, they moved to the Copthorne Hotel with their Emirates voucher. Her flight has been rescheduled for Tuesday.
Even with the help of the Emirates hotel voucher, Show and her father have had to spend hundreds of dollars during their unexpectedly extended stay in Dubai.
“Obviously, that’s a lot of money we were not intending to spend,” she said. “We’re using a credit card, so we’re hoping to be reimbursed by next month when we repay it.”
Shanice Day has managed to get a flight to Australia from Dubai, in order to make it back to the US.
Courtesy of Shanice Day
Shanice Day, a stylist from Houston, traveled to Dubai on February 24 to celebrate her 30th birthday with her friend Remy Thomas, staying at the FIVE Luxe hotel near Jumeirah Beach.Their original flight home on March 1 was canceled, along with subsequent rebookings, and they were left paying for their hotel out of pocket.
On Tuesday, Thomas started a GoFundMe to fundraise for their accommodation and flights back. As of Friday, the pair had raised $9,978of their $11,000 target.
Day managed to secure a flight out of Dubai to Sydney on Thursday. The following day, she flew from Sydney to Los Angeles, the penultimate leg of her round-the-world journey back to Texas.
“I’ll probably get therapy after this experience,” Day told Business Insider. “I know it’s going to take me a while to build up the courage to travel again.”
Shrihari Madhu, the manager of Coral Cove, which rents out three apartments in Dubai Marina, told Business Insider they have been helping tourists stranded by flight cancellationsby offering free accommodation or a base fee of around $40 a night.Ordinarily, they rent their properties out for prices starting around $110.
“Many travelers are reaching out because they need an immediate reliable place to stay while navigating these disruptions,” Madhu said.
Madhu said the three apartments are currently occupied by guests whose travel plans were canceled.
The only thing more expensive than staying is leaving
On Monday, as tensions escalated and airspaces across the region shut down, some wealthy travelers in the UAE hired chauffeurs to drive them into Oman and Saudi Arabia. The trips involved hours in the car, including long waits at border crossings.
From there, they chartered private planes, spending upward of $200,000 to make it out, Ameerh Naran, the CEO of Vimana Private Jets, previously told Business Insider.
He said demand to leave the region had started to tick up on Friday, when the possibility of a conflict with Iran became more acute.
“There has been a clear emphasis on speed and certainty of departure, with many clients prioritizing the earliest viable routing rather than specific aircraft types or traditional preferences,” Naran said. “We have also seen increased demand for coordinated ground support to facilitate access to airports where airspace remains open.”
A narrow flight corridor that’s become vital to airlines is shrinking as the Iran conflict expands.
On Thursday, Azerbaijan’s foreign ministry said that Iranian drones attacked the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic. It’s an exclave to the north of Iran, which is separated from the rest of Azerbaijan by Armenia.
One drone damaged the terminal at Nakhchivan Airport, and another fell near a school building, the ministry said. Two civilians were injured, it added.
As a result, Azerbaijan closed the southern sector of its airspace.
It leaves airplanes flying between Europe and Asia with an even smaller space to navigate.
Since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran on Saturday, airlines have been unable to fly over the Persian Gulf, which was previously the main route.
Following drone strikes on Nakhchivan International Airport (NAJ) earlier today, Azerbaijan has closed the airspace in its southern sector. Learn more about this, and more, in our updated list of airspace closures and restrictions: https://t.co/AU0KOdzprtpic.twitter.com/X19SnOglD5
Instead, they have been rerouting through Saudi Arabia or the Caucasus. The region consists of Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, and links the Black Sea with the Caspian Sea. It is bordered by Iran and Turkey to the south, and Russia to the north.
Most airlines have been unable to fly over Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The Caucasus is not without its own tensions, either.
In 2023, Azerbaijan launched a military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh, a region within its territory that was governed and mostly populated by ethnic Armenians.
The conflict in Iran, however, is encouraging Armenia and Azerbaijan to refrain from escalating tensions.
After the drone attack on Nakhchivan, the two foreign ministers held a phone call where they “noted the importance of sustainable peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan and exchanged views on matters of mutual interest,” according to a press release.
The US struck an Iranian drone carrier, and the vessel is currently on fire, the top American admiral in the Middle East said.
Iran’s drone carriers are specialized crewed combat vessels capable of launching a mix of one-way attack drones and uncrewed reconnaissance and strike platforms. Destroying Iran’s naval forces, including warships, has been named a priority by US President Donald Trump and other officials in Operation Epic Fury.
On Thursday afternoon, Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Central Command overseeing the Middle East, said, “In just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship, roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier, and as we speak, it’s on fire.”
Cooper didn’t elaborate on where the carrier was located or what it kind of munition hit it. He said that US forces have sunk over 30 Iranian vessels since the start of Operation Epic Fury last weekend.
Tehran has multiple vessels capable of serving as launch platforms for drones, including a former tanker converted into a forward base ship that was seen smoking at its home port in recent satellite images, but Iran’s dedicated, purpose-built drone carrier is the IRIS Shahid Bagheri.
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Cooper didn’t identify the targeted Iranian vessel.
The Shahid Bagheri, formerly a container ship before it was reworked and commissioned into the navy last year.
The Iranian vessel features a ski jump-style ramp, one similar in some respects to those on Soviet-built carriers like the Russian Admiral Kuznetsov or Chinese derivatives, that are used to launch aircraft. The vessel can launch a mix of different drones.
During Thursday’s briefing, Cooper also offered several other updates on the US war in Iran. He said that within the last 72 hours, US bombers had struck nearly 200 targets “deep inside of Iran, including around Tehran.” In the last hour, he said at the 5 pm EST event, US Air Force B-2 Spirit bombers dropped “dozens” of 2,000-pound penetrative bombs on buried ballistic missile launchers.
The last day of operations, compared to the start of the conflict, has seen dramatic decreases in Iranian attacks beyond its borders, Cooper said. Ballistic missile attacks are down by 90% and the drone attacks are down by 83%. Reductions in these attacks reduces the strain on air defenders and interceptor stockpiles.
US forces have also targeted Iran’s equivalent of US Space Command, Cooper said, “which degrades their ability to threaten Americans.”
It’s been a confusing six days since missile attacks across the Middle East stranded travelers and planes in airports across the world.
Things are still far from normal as of Wednesday, but some travelers are getting home.
There is a slow-growing recovery in the United Arab Emirates, which has partially opened its skies and designated “safe” corridors for rescue planes to use.
There are a lot of people to move: cities like Dubai and Abu Dhabi host large expat populations and tourists, and their hubs usually handle tens of thousands of transit passengers a day.
Working with local officials, Emirates, Flydubai, IndiGo, and Etihad Airways were among the first airlines to depart the UAE with passengers, crews, and cargo. Over 100,000 people followed these aircraft live on the aviation tracking website Flightradar24.
Even as Iranian threats continue to disrupt flying — forcing diversions, holds, and U-turns — airlines are still transporting passengers to destinations across Europe, Asia, and Africa.
Fortunately, Emirates and Etihad have big planes: many of their Airbus A380s, capable of carrying up to 615 passengers, have flown to cities such as London, Istanbul, Jeddah, Singapore, Paris, and Düsseldorf.
Although these flights don’t always take travelers all the way home, they offer a crucial escape from limbo — getting people into countries with open airspace and far more onward flight options.
Flightradar24 data shows several other carriers have joined the crowd: Air India, Air Arabia, Uzbekistan Airways, Kenya Airways, Morocco’s Royal Air Maroc, Saudi airline Flynas, Royal Jordanian, and India’s SpiceJet are all flying from Dubai to their respective hubs.
Passengers on a Kenya Airways rescue flight from Dubai arrive back home.
Thomas Mukoya/Reuters
European carriers, including Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines, Prague-based Smartwings, Aegean Air, and British Airways, are running special rescue flights from neighboring Muscat, Oman. Smartwings and Croatia Airlines are running select flights from Dubai.
Air France scheduled a repatriation flight from Dubai to Paris on Thursday evening, but suspended the plan shortly after the announcement due to “the ongoing security situation.”
Russian carriers Aeroflot and S7 Airlines have similarly departed with passengers, though their flights to Moscow are taking up to three hours longer because they have to fly the long way around closed airspace rather than fly directly over it.
Still, most airlines’ regular schedules to and from much of the Middle East remain suspended until at least the weekend, and they have asked passengers not to go to the airport unless they have been specifically notified.
No US airlines have sent rescue planes as of Thursday. Mark Dombroff, an aviation attorney with the law firm Fox Rothschild, told Business Insider that even if US carriers like United or American wanted to help, they legally can’t.
“The decision-making resides with the Federal Aviation Administration,” he said. “If the FAA says you can’t fly there as a US certificated carrier, that’s it. And in a sense, it’s no different than any other restricted airspace in this country, like Washington, DC.”
Some Americans have gotten home with the help of the State Department; it previously told those in over a dozen Middle Eastern countries to evacuate. The agency said it flew a charter flight to the US on Wednesday, and that more will be “surged across the region.”
It added that, as of Wednesday, “nearly 18,000 Americans have safely returned to the US,” including 7,300 helped by the State Department. It said thousands of others made it to Europe and Asia and are in transit back, and told those still stuck to get in touch for help by calling +1 (202) 501-4444 or filling out this form.
Some airlines remain effectively frozen. Qatar Airways has not flown a plane since Saturday due to Qatar’s airspace closure, leaving practically no options for those in Doha except to wait or drive hours to Saudi Arabia and fly out from there.
Flight options are still extremely limited
While some flights are better than none at all, special airline operations remain limited to certain routes and airports.
Flightradar24 data shows that Dubai International has seen just 100 takeoffs and landings since Saturday. Operations ramped up from Monday to Tuesday — but that was still less than 10% of the roughly 1,200 flights in and out on a usual day.
Rescue flights are largely restricted to the UAE, Oman, and Saudi Arabia: the skies over Iran, Kuwait, Iraq, Syria, Israel, Qatar, and Bahrain remain closed.
An Emirates A380 ferried hundreds of stranded people back to Germany.
Andreas Rentz/Getty Images
Aviation analytics Cirium estimates there are normally about 900,000 daily seats to, from, and within the Middle East; it said about 4.4 million seats in and out of the Middle East have been canceled since Saturday.
While airlines are actively adding flights to the schedule — despite the on-and-off missile threats in the region — there are nowhere near enough rescue seats yet to accommodate the tens of thousands of stranded travelers. British Airways said on social media on Wednesday that the rescue flights it planned through Saturday are already full.
Some wealthy travelers have abandoned commercial flying altogether, instead paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to charter private jets. Flightradar24 data shows a number of business aircraft flying to and from Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE since Sunday.
Those with less deep pockets have chosen to travel by bus to Oman and Saudi Arabia, hoping to secure seats from airports still operating flights as normal.
But the drives are hourslong, and Oman Air warned Muscat-bound travelers crossing in from the UAE to arrive 12 hours early as traffic backs up for miles.
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Last year, Paramount said it would use $24 billion in funding from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar to help buy WBD.
Now that Paramount has won that deal, it won’t say whether that’s still the plan.
A key Paramount backer suggests that Gulf money would be a good thing for this deal.
We still don’t know if Paramount intends to use billions of dollars from Gulf states like Saudi Arabia to help it buy Warner Bros. Discovery.
But if Paramount does end up doing that, it wouldn’t be a bad thing, says a key Paramount backer.
That update comes via Gerry Cardinale, who heads up RedBird Capital Partners, the private equity company that helped finance Larry and David Ellison’s acquisition of Paramount last year and is doing the same with their WBD deal now.
In a podcast with Puck’s Matt Belloni published Wednesday night, Cardinale wouldn’t comment directly on Paramount’s previously disclosed plans to use $24 billion from sovereign wealth funds controlled by Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar to help buy WBD.
Instead, he reiterated Paramount’s current messaging on the deal’s financing: The $47 billion in equity Paramount will use to buy WBD will be “backstopped” by the Ellison family and RedBird — meaning they are ultimately on the hook to pay up. The rest of the $81 billion deal will be financed with debt.
Cardinale also acknowledged what Paramount has disclosed in its current disclosure documents: It intends to sell portions of that $47 billion commitment to other investors: “We haven’t syndicated anything at this time,” he said. “We do expect to syndicate with strategic, domestic, and foreign investors. But at the end of the day, that alchemy shouldn’t matter because it’ll be done in the right way.”
And when asked about concerns about Middle Eastern countries owning part of a media conglomerate that includes assets like CNN, Cardinale suggested that could be a plus.
“I think we want to be a global company,” he said. “You look at what’s going on right now geopolitically. What’s going on right now geopolitically out of the Middle East wouldn’t be, the positives of that would not be happening without some of those sovereigns that you’re referring to.”
He continued:
“The world is changing. We can stick our head in the sand and pretend it’s not, or we can embrace globalization and the derivative benefits both geopolitically and otherwise that come from that. Content generation coming out of Hollywood is one of America’s greatest exports.I firmly embrace the global nature and orientation that we bring to this from a capital standpoint, from a footprint standpoint, etc. At the end of the day, I do understand some of the concerns that you’ve raised, but that will work itself out between signing and closing because at the end of the day, worst-case scenario, Ellison and RedBird are 100% of this thing.”
All of which suggests to me that Paramount still intends to use money from Gulf-based sovereign wealth funds to buy WBD.
What I don’t understand is why the company won’t say that out loud. Does that mean it’s still negotiating with potential investors? Or that it’s reticent to disclose outside investors, for whatever reason, until it has to? A Paramount rep declined to comment.
