Key transit airports including Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE, and Doha in Qatar, were shut or severely restricted as much of the region’s airspace remained closed, with the Gulf grappling with uncertainty after US and Israeli strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday.

Israel said it launched another wave of strikes on Iran on Sunday, while loud blasts were heard for a second day near Dubai and over Doha, after Iran launched retaliatory air attacks on the neighbouring Gulf states.

Dubai International Airport sustained damage during Iran's attacks, while airports in Abu Dhabi and Kuwait were also hit. Thousands of flights have been affected across the Middle East since the US first launched attacks on Iran on Saturday, according to data on FlightAware, a flight tracking platform.

The airport closures have rippled far beyond the Middle East. Dubai and neighbouring Doha sit at the crossroads of east-west air travel, funnelling long-haul traffic between Europe and Asia through tightly scheduled networks of connecting flights. With those hubs idle, aircraft and crews remained stranded out of position, disrupting airline schedules worldwide.

"It's the sheer volume of people and the complexity," said UK-based aviation analyst John Strickland.

"It is not only customers, it is the crews and aircraft all over place."

Airlines across Europe, Asia and the Middle East cancelled or rerouted flights to avoid closed or restricted airspace, lengthening journeys and driving up fuel costs. The disruption has been intensified by the loss of Iranian and Iraqi overflight routes, which had grown more important since the Russia-Ukraine war forced airlines to avoid both countries' airspace.

Notable airlines that cancelled services included Emirates, Etihad, Air France, British Airways, Air India, Turkish Airlines, and Lufthansa.

According to aviation analytics company Cirium, of around 4,218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, 966 (22.9 percent) were cancelled, with the figure rising above 1,800 if also including outbound flights.

For Sunday, 716 flights out of 4,329 scheduled to the Middle East have been cancelled, Cirium said.

Flight tracking website FlightAware meanwhile said more than 19,000 flights had been delayed globally and more than 2,600 were cancelled as of 0230 GMT Sunday.

Gulf carriers Emirates and Etihad cancelled 38 percent and 30 percent of their flights respectively, Cirium said.

Qatar Airways suspended all flights from Doha. It cancelled 41 percent of total flights, according to Cirium.

Syria Air, the country's national carrier, cancelled all flights until further notice.

Egypt's national airline, EgyptAir, announced the suspension of its flights to cities across the Middle East, including Dubai, Doha, Manama, Abu Dhabi, Beirut and Baghdad among others.

The Middle East airspace closures were squeezing airlines into narrower corridors, with fighting between Pakistan and Afghanistan adding a further risk, said Ian Petchenik, communications director at Flightradar24.

"The risk of protracted disruption is the main concern from a commercial aviation perspective," Petchenik said.

"Any escalation in the conflict between Pakistan and Afghanistan that results in the closure of airspace would have drastic consequences for travel between Europe and Asia."

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