Middle-East crisis grounds flights: Economic Times lists 3 March cancellations and special relief services

With parts of Gulf airspace still closed on 3 March 2026, The Economic Times published an early-morning operational bulletin summarising which airlines had cancelled or restored India-bound services. The paper recorded 357 international flights scrubbed on 2 March and warned that disruption was set to continue into 3 March even as some carriers introduced limited “relief” operations. According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, IndiGo planned four dedicated services from Jeddah to Mumbai, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, while Air India chose to keep all Gulf operations suspended until 23:59 IST on 3 March. Emirates and Etihad announced a “phased restart” but urged passengers not to proceed to airports unless contacted directly. Qatar Airways remained grounded pending a further review. From a mobility-planning perspective, the bulletin underscored the patchwork nature of capacity restoration. Employers moving critical staff between India and the Middle East were advised to build at least 72-hour buffers, monitor airline social-media feeds and consider surface transport to Muscat or Salalah—two Omani gateways still fully operational. Travel insurers also reminded policy-holders that most standard policies do not cover cancellations caused by acts of war.



While travellers scramble to rebook tickets or secure new routings, many also face unexpected visa requirements when detouring through third-country hubs such as Oman. VisaHQ’s India portal (https://www.visahq.com/india/) can quickly arrange the necessary transit or entry permits and provides up-to-date guidance on documentation, giving corporate mobility teams and individual passengers an extra layer of certainty amid the evolving disruption.

The ET list has become a go-to reference for travel managers because it aggregates advisories from six Gulf hubs and five Indian metros, offering a real-time snapshot of route viability. Given that slot allocations can change with a few hours’ notice, experts recommend re-checking airline status pages every six hours for the rest of the week.