Saturday 28 / February / 2026
Muscat: R. Hari had been looking forward to a smooth journey from Chennai to Muscat. He boarded the Oman Air flight at 2:20 pm on Saturday, settled into his seat, and watched the bustling airport fade beneath the clouds. But just an hour into the flight, excitement turned into confusion.
“We were told the plane would be returning,” Hari recalled, still shaken. “No explanation, no guidance. Just a sudden announcement, and then we were heading back to Chennai.”
As the aircraft descended, the cabin was thick with whispers and anxious glances.
Passengers gripped armrests, checked phones, and tried to make sense of the unexpected detour. Hari watched families exchange worried words, while business travellers quietly scrolled through flight updates.
The collective uncertainty was palpable. Back on the tarmac in Chennai, relief mingled with frustration.
Passengers remained onboard, and after a delay of hours they were allowed to disembark with a note that they need to contact the airlines to know the latest status. Hari, like many, felt the weight of helplessness against a backdrop of international tension.
“I understand safety comes first,” he said, “but some communication would have made this easier. We were left in the dark.”
The disruption was a small human ripple in a wider storm—escalating conflicts in the Gulf, airspace closures, and halted flights—but for Hari, it was a vivid reminder of how global events can suddenly touch everyday lives.
Hari was not alone. Thousands of Muscat-bound passengers were stranded at different airports after military strikes between Iran and Israel triggered widespread airspace closures across the Gulf.
An Indian expat, Varsha, who was supposed to take a flight from Dubai to Muscat, ended up making a road trip instead after her flight was cancelled. “We went with two families to spend the weekend in Dubai. After the flights got cancelled, we hired a car and reached Muscat,” she told Times of Oman.
In Muscat, Oman Airports confirmed that flight delays and cancellations were likely due to the closure of certain airspaces and advised passengers to check flight status updates before travelling to the airport.
Oman Air said it had suspended flights to Baghdad, Moscow, Amman, and Khasab until further notice and temporarily suspended services on several Gulf routes as a precaution, while the rest of its network continued to operate as scheduled.
The airline added that flights would be rerouted where necessary depending on operational and safety assessments.
Other carriers were also affected.
SalamAir announced cancellation of all its international flights, while India’s IndiGo and Air India cancelled all flights to and from several Middle Eastern destinations.
