Severe winter weather across Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Egypt on December 19 and 20 has triggered a fresh wave of disruption across some of the Middle East’s busiest aviation hubs, with 46 flights grounded and 386 delayed. The knock-on effects are being felt by thousands of passengers, as airlines struggle to recover schedules already under strain from earlier storms, fog and dust across the wider Gulf this month.

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Storm systems batter key Middle East aviation corridors

The latest disruption stems from an overlapping series of weather systems that have unsettled conditions from the eastern Mediterranean to the Red Sea. Heavy rain, electrical storms, localized flooding and low cloud have repeatedly reduced visibility at major hubs including Riyadh, Dubai, Amman and Cairo, while outlying airports in desert regions have reported dust and crosswinds that complicate takeoffs and landings.

In the UAE, the newest round of storms followed a two day period of intense rainfall that flooded roads and underpasses and prompted emergency clean-up operations in Dubai and Sharjah. Authorities reported standing water near the approaches to Dubai International Airport, already contending with delays and diversions as airlines adjusted to rapidly changing runway and taxiway conditions.

The National Centre of Meteorology has warned that unstable conditions linked to a low pressure system may linger into the weekend, keeping airlines on alert for further operational challenges.

Saudi Arabia has been grappling with its own pattern of volatile winter weather. Heavy rains, hail and thunderstorms earlier in the month prompted official advisories about potential disruption at airports in Jeddah, Riyadh and Taif, and the same storm corridor has continued to affect central and western regions.

Meteorologists in the kingdom have cautioned that strong downdrafts around cumulonimbus clouds can generate dangerous crosswinds and dust, forcing controllers to widen separation between aircraft and slowing the flow of arrivals and departures.

Airlines hit: Saudia, Air Arabia, Royal Jordanian and EgyptAir

According to operational data compiled by industry trackers and regional bulletins, the current tally of 46 grounded flights and 386 delayed services is concentrated among four major carriers: Saudia, Air Arabia, Royal Jordanian and EgyptAir.

While each airline has issued reassurances that safety remains the top priority, the combined effect across their networks has been significant, pulling aircraft and crews out of position at precisely the moment demand remains high for year end travel.

Saudia has borne much of the impact inside the kingdom, with a series of domestic and regional rotations scrubbed or pushed back from King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah and King Fahd International in Dammam.

Delays on trunk routes such as Riyadh to Jeddah and Riyadh to Cairo have cascaded into late evening waves, meaning passengers connecting onward to other Gulf and Asian destinations have faced unexpected overnight stays.

In the UAE, low cost carrier Air Arabia has been forced to trim and retime flights from its Sharjah base as thunderstorms, wind shear and congested airspace slowed operations. Services linking Sharjah with Cairo, Kuwait and Salalah have seen some of the longest delays, while shorter regional hops have been consolidated to free aircraft for longer-haul rotations.

The airline has posted prominent travel advisories urging passengers to check flight status before leaving for the airport, signaling that disruption could persist as weather cells move across the country.

Royal Jordanian and EgyptAir, both heavily reliant on smooth flows through Amman and Cairo, have also reported a spike in weather related disruption. Royal Jordanian has adjusted flights on sensitive sectors such as Amman to Riyadh and Amman to Cairo, citing storms and poor visibility at both origin and destination.

EgyptAir’s operations between Cairo and Saudi gateways including Jeddah and Riyadh have been affected, while some services to Europe have departed late as incoming aircraft missed their scheduled slots.

Airports under pressure: Riyadh, Dubai, Amman and Cairo

The distribution of the 46 cancellations and 386 delays highlights the vulnerability of a handful of mega-hubs that knit together air travel across the Middle East and beyond. Riyadh’s King Khalid International has faced a dual challenge of localized storms and broader regional turbulence, leaving airport managers to balance runway capacity, ground handling and passenger flow while coping with volatile conditions just outside the perimeter fence.

Dubai International Airport, one of the busiest international gateways in the world, has been under almost constant weather pressure this December. After heavy fog triggered more than a thousand delays across the Gulf earlier in the month, the mid December rainstorms forced Emirates and flydubai to cancel and delay additional flights, while airport authorities warned of water accumulation on primary access roads. The latest tally of grounded and delayed flights adds an extra layer of complexity as the airport moves into the peak holiday travel period.

Further north, Amman’s Queen Alia International has endured intermittent disruption as storm bands have swept across Jordan. Reduced visibility and gusty crosswinds have shortened operating windows for some narrower runways, compelling air traffic controllers to space out arrivals and departures for safety reasons. Royal Jordanian and other carriers have warned passengers that departure boards may remain fluid throughout the weekend as crews and aircraft rotate back into position.

Cairo International has not escaped the impact. Egypt’s main gateway has experienced its own bouts of heavy rain and low cloud, leading to delays on popular regional routes to the Gulf and Levant. With EgyptAir acting as a critical connector between Africa, the Middle East and Europe, even modest schedule perturbations in Cairo can reverberate widely across the carrier’s network, extending the reach of this week’s weather problems well beyond the immediate region.

Passenger experience: long queues, missed connections and overnight stays

For travelers on the ground, the headline numbers of 46 cancellations and 386 delays translate into long queues at check in counters, crowded boarding gates and uncertainty about when journeys will resume. At several airports, lines have stretched into terminal corridors as passengers seek rebooking options, meal vouchers and hotel accommodation while airlines recalculate their flight programs.

Business travelers who rely on tight connections through Dubai or Riyadh have reported missed meetings and forced itinerary changes, while holidaymakers heading for winter sun in the Red Sea resorts or onward to Asia have seen carefully planned trips compressed or extended by up to 24 hours. With many aircraft departing out of sequence, seat availability on alternative flights has in some cases been limited, particularly in premium cabins and during peak evening departure banks.

Ground handling constraints have compounded the delays. When severe weather hits, aircraft often require additional checks, de-icing in some locations, and more careful towing and pushback procedures to avoid hazards caused by standing water or reduced visibility. Each extra precaution takes time, and when multiplied across dozens of flights in a narrow window, the result is a backlog that can persist long after the worst of the weather has passed.

Social media channels and airline call centers have been inundated with requests for updates as passengers seek clarity on whether to proceed to the airport or remain at home or in hotels. While some carriers have enhanced their apps and messaging tools to push real time notifications, others have been criticized by passengers for slow communications and a lack of clear guidance on compensation or rebooking options.

Operational recovery and industry response

Aviation authorities and airlines across Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt have moved quickly to stabilize operations, even as meteorologists warn that unstable conditions could flare up again.

In Dubai, municipal services deployed hundreds of pumps and tankers to remove standing water from key roads and underpasses serving the airport, while transport authorities operated joint flood management rooms to monitor congestion and redirect traffic.

At Riyadh and Jeddah, airport operators have coordinated closely with Saudia and other carriers to prioritize flights with heavy connection banks or limited alternative routings. By resequencing departures and arrivals, controllers aim to chip away at the backlog without overloading baggage handling systems or immigration counters.

Where weather windows permit, additional late night or early morning services are being slotted in to repatriate stranded passengers and position aircraft where they are needed.

Airlines have urged travelers to use online check in, arrive well ahead of departure, and monitor flight status pages frequently. Some carriers have temporarily relaxed change fees or offered free date changes for passengers scheduled to fly during the most affected days, a move designed to shift more flexible travelers to later flights and free space for those with urgent commitments.

Low cost operators, which typically have tighter turn times and less spare capacity, face a tougher recovery task, but are nonetheless adjusting crew rosters and aircraft rotations to claw back lost minutes.

Industry analysts note that the current disruption comes on top of an already challenging winter period for Gulf aviation. Earlier in December, thick fog snarled operations across the lower Gulf, leading Dubai to activate contingency measures and urge passengers to arrive three hours before departure.

Combined with the latest storms and dust episodes, the season has underscored how vulnerable even the most modern hubs remain to weather extremes in an era of growing climate volatility.

Wider tourism and economic impact

The concentration of disruptions at high volume hubs has implications well beyond the terminal buildings. Tourism authorities in Dubai, Riyadh, Amman and Cairo have all spent heavily in recent years to attract stopover and long stay visitors, banking on seamless air connectivity as a selling point.

When weather repeatedly snarls that connectivity, even for short bursts, the perception of reliability can suffer among high value business and leisure travelers.

Hotel operators in airport districts have seen a spike in last minute bookings as stranded passengers accept carrier vouchers or self fund overnight stays. While this offers a short term revenue boost, it also strains capacity at a time when many properties are already near full with seasonal visitors. Tour operators have had to reorganize airport transfers, day trips and cruise connections on the fly as arrival times shift or entire tour groups are delayed.

Air cargo flows have also been affected. With passenger aircraft carrying significant belly hold freight between these four countries and global markets, any prolonged delay can disrupt just in time supply chains, from e commerce parcels to perishables and pharmaceuticals.

Logistics providers have been exploring alternative routings through secondary hubs or, where distances permit, shifting some high priority shipments onto road or sea until flight patterns stabilize.

Economists caution that while a single episode of 46 cancellations and 386 delays is unlikely to move national GDP figures, the cumulative effect of repeated weather driven disruptions across an entire winter can dent productivity, complicate corporate travel planning and add hidden costs to trade. For states investing heavily in aviation as a pillar of diversification strategies, improving resilience to extreme weather is becoming an increasingly urgent priority.

Planning ahead: what travelers should do now

With forecasters in the Gulf and eastern Mediterranean still flagging the potential for additional unstable weather in the coming days, travelers to and from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt are being advised to build extra slack into their plans. Airlines and airports consistently stress that the best defense against disruption is timely information, encouraging passengers to download official apps, enable notifications and verify departure times before setting out.

Travel agents and corporate travel managers are similarly stepping up monitoring, often tracking not only individual flight statuses but also broader patterns of delay at key hubs. By identifying early when a particular airport is beginning to see reduced capacity, they can proactively reroute some passengers through alternative gateways or adjust connection times to reduce the risk of missed onward flights.

For those already on the move, experts recommend carrying essential medications and a change of clothes in hand luggage, maintaining digital copies of travel documents, and having contingency funds available for meals or accommodation if delays stretch into overnight territory. Passengers are also urged to familiarize themselves with the rebooking, refund and duty of care policies of their airline, as these can vary significantly between full service and low cost carriers.

As aviation in the region continues to grow, this week’s events provide a reminder that even the most sophisticated infrastructure must contend with the fundamental realities of weather. For travelers and industry stakeholders alike, adapting to this new normal means combining technology, flexible planning and realistic expectations whenever winter storms roll across the desert skies.

FAQ

Q1. What exactly has happened with flights in Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Jordan and Egypt?
Severe winter weather, including heavy rain, thunderstorms, low cloud and dust, has caused at least 46 flights to be grounded and 386 delayed across the four countries, disrupting schedules at major hubs and stranding passengers.

Q2. Which airlines are most affected by the current disruption?
The bulk of the grounded and delayed flights involve Saudia in Saudi Arabia, Air Arabia in the UAE, Royal Jordanian in Jordan and EgyptAir in Egypt, although other regional and international carriers operating through the same airports have also seen knock on delays.

Q3. Which airports are experiencing the worst problems?
Key hubs under pressure include King Khalid International in Riyadh, Dubai International, Queen Alia International in Amman and Cairo International, along with secondary airports in Jeddah, Dammam, Sharjah and other regional cities affected by storms and low visibility.

Q4. What kind of weather is causing these disruptions?
The disruption is being driven by a combination of intense rainstorms, electrical activity, localized flooding, low cloud, fog and in some desert areas powerful dust and sand events that reduce visibility and create hazardous crosswinds for aircraft.

Q5. How long are delays currently lasting for passengers?
Delay times vary widely by route and airport, but many affected flights are running one to three hours late, and some passengers with missed connections have faced overnight stays while they wait for alternative services.

Q6. What are airlines doing to help stranded travelers?
Airlines are rebooking passengers on later flights where space allows, issuing meal and hotel vouchers in certain cases, adjusting crew and aircraft rotations to restore schedules, and using apps, text messages and social media to provide status updates.

Q7. Are passengers entitled to compensation for weather related delays?
Compensation rules depend on the airline, ticket type and applicable regulations, but in many jurisdictions severe weather is treated as an extraordinary circumstance, meaning carriers focus on rebooking and basic care such as refreshments and accommodation rather than cash payments.

Q8. What should travelers with upcoming flights in the region do now?
Travelers should monitor flight status closely through airline apps or contact centers, allow extra time to reach the airport, keep essential items in hand luggage, and consider adjusting connection times where possible to account for potential knock on delays.

Q9. Is it still safe to fly during these weather conditions?
Yes, safety remains the overriding priority for airlines and air traffic control, and flights are delayed or cancelled precisely to avoid operating when weather conditions fall outside approved safety margins for takeoff, landing or ground movements.

Q10. Could this type of disruption become more common in future winters?
Meteorologists and industry analysts note that the region has already seen several episodes of unusually intense rain, fog and dust in recent seasons, suggesting that weather related disruption may become a more frequent challenge for Middle Eastern aviation during the winter months.