Flights across the Middle East were cancelled on Saturday as several countries closed their airspace after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
Iran, Iraq, Israel, Syria, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates all announced at least partial closures of their skies in the hours after smoke began rising over Tehran and Iran began retaliatory attacks in the region.
Iranian missiles hit capital cities around the wealthy Gulf region, killing at least one, as witnesses reported seeing warplanes and projectiles streaking through the skies.
Carriers including Air France, Air India, Turkish Airlines, Norwegian, Air Algerie and Lufthansa announced widespread cancellations.
According to aviation analytics company Cirium, of around 4,218 flights scheduled to land in Middle Eastern countries on Saturday, 966 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 10.30am.
Iran launched a new wave of retaliatory missile strikes on Sunday after confirming the death of its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Fresh blasts were heard across the Gulf cities of Dubai, Doha and Manama - cities where the US has a military presence.
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