50% decline in international departures from Pakistan because of Iran war.

A comparison of the first ten days of February and the first ten days of March in the International Departures dashboard suggests a sudden shift in Pakistan’s outbound aviation activity — and the timing coincides closely with the escalation of the Iran war and the resulting disruption to Middle Eastern airspace.

During 1–10 February, the dashboard records 1,127 international departures. By contrast, in the first ten days of March, departures fall sharply to 572 flights — almost half the level seen just a few weeks earlier. Such a dramatic contraction in a short period is unusual under normal aviation conditions.

The timing aligns closely with events in the region. At the end of February 2026, military escalation involving Iran triggered widespread airspace closures and security restrictions across much of the Middle East, including Iran, Iraq, Israel and several Gulf countries. Airlines across the world began cancelling or rerouting flights, and major carriers suspended operations to key hubs such as Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.

Because Pakistan’s international traffic is heavily tied to the Gulf aviation network, these disruptions quickly spilled over into Pakistani airports.

But the change is not just in the number of flights — the structure of traffic also shifts noticeably.
In early February, the busiest sectors were relatively diversified across the Gulf:
Karachi–Dubai: about 6.2% of departures
Islamabad–Jeddah: about 4.8%
Karachi–Jeddah: about 4.6%
Multan–Dubai: about 4.1%
Lahore–Jeddah: about 3.7%

By early March, the composition changes, with Saudi-bound routes gaining share:
Karachi–Jeddah: about 6.3%
Islamabad–Jeddah: about 5.8%
Lahore–Jeddah: about 4.7%
Islamabad–Riyadh: about 3.3%


The route pattern visible in the dashboard also reflects this dynamic.

While traffic in early February is spread across multiple Gulf destinations — particularly Dubai and Jeddah — the early March data shows a stronger concentration on Saudi routes such as Jeddah and Riyadh, suggesting that some travel flows, particularly those linked to religious travel, continued while other Gulf traffic contracted.

More of such statistics at Gallup Pakistan Digital Analytics Aviation dashboard