Anxious travelers scramble as Iran war strands tens of thousands across the Middle East

"They say 'Get out,' but how do you expect us to get out when airspaces are closed?" said Odies Turner, a 32-year-old chef from Dallas who was stuck in Doha, Qatar. "They just have been canceling every flight. I want to go home."

The U.S. State Department told American citizens to leave more than a dozen countries in the region right away using any available commercial transportation. The countries included Iran and Israel, as well as Qatar, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, the Palestinian territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.

But commercial options remained limited.

About 18,000 flights, or nearly 55% of all scheduled flight arrivals and departures in the Middle East, have been canceled since Saturday, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium. The number included 3,800 cancellations on Tuesday.

Governments explore repatriation flights

The State Department said Tuesday it was "actively securing" military and charter aircraft to fly Americans out of the region. It said it was in contact with nearly 3,000 citizens seeking assistance or information.

"We know that we're going to be able to help them," U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Tuesday, while cautioning that "it's going to take a little time because we don't control the airspace closures."

He urged stranded Americans to contact the State Department.

"There may be more people out there that need help," he said. "We need to know who you are."

Earlier in the day, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee wrote in a social media that the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem was "not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel." He provided information "as a courtesy to those wishing to leave" about an Israeli government shuttle bus to Egypt that Americans could try"as you make your own security plans."

Israel's flag carrier, El Al, said it was launching a large-scale "recovery operation" as Ben-Gurion Airport prepares to gradually reopen for limited incoming flights around the clock starting early Thursday.

Israel's airspace has been closed since Saturday, although some land crossings remain open. Transportation Minister Miri Regev said thousands have returned that way.

Under the plan, one passenger flight per hour will be allowed in the first 24 hours, totaling about 5,000 people, with more later depending on security. It is unclear whether only Israelis will be permitted on the flights, and no commercial departures leaving Israel have been approved

Airspace closures

Across the Middle East, travelers waited in airport terminals and hotels, or stayed inside because of airstrikes. Some cruise passengers were unable to disembark or reroute because ships could not sail through the Strait of Hormuz.

Matt Carwell, 46, spoke over the phone Tuesday from his hotel room balcony in the UAE city of Duba i. Then he cutoff midsentence.

"Wow," the American said, "there was just a boom." Then a fighter jet roared somewhere overhead. Carwell, who currently volunteers at a New Hampshire high school, has flights booked and is just waiting for one not to get cancelled.

"Right now, we're safe and comfortable," he said, but not everyone is. "Just feel for them and feel for the people who have either lost their lives or lost someone they're close to."

The airspaces of countries that included Iran, Iraq, Israel, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Syria were still shut Tuesday, according to flight-tracking service Flightradar24. Saudi Arabia partially closed routes near its border with Iraq and along the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates declared its airspace partially closed, and Jordan suspended daily flights from the mid-afternoon until 6 a.m. local time. Oman's airspace remained open.

Tracking data from Flightradar24 showed some planes flying either south or north around the shuttered airspace. One of the busiest detours ran over Egypt and Saudi Arabia toward India and Asia, while another extended north across Afghanistan and Turkmenistan toward European airspace.

The geography of the war has magnified the disruption to air travel. Gulf airports connect Europe, Africa and Asia, and carriers routinely funnel long-haul passengers through hubs such as Dubai and Doha.

"Effectively within the Middle East, an eight-hour flying distance covers two-thirds of the world population," said Anita Mendiratta, an aviation and tourism consultant who was stranded in Bangkok.

When that corridor is blocked, Mendiratta said, it forces planes far north or far south, which "puts huge pressure on the airlines."

Some of the aviation notices governing the closures allow authorities to reopen or restrict portions of airspace on short notice depending on security conditions, meaning flight schedules can change rapidly as the conflict continues to unfold.

Some begin to leave

Despite the uncertainty, some travelers managed to catch flights.

Oman Airways advertised flights from Muscat International Airport for passengers who could reach Oman from the UAE. Virgin Atlantic said it planned to restart some services between London Heathrow Airport and Dubai and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

"We called our children at 3 a.m. to ask forgiveness because we might die and to tell them we love them," said Mariana Muicaru, one of hundreds of Romanian pilgrims who had been stranded on a church trip to Israel. She described watching rockets streak across the sky, before eventually reaching Bucharest on Tuesday.

Some British tourists who were stranded in the UAE were relieved to land safely Monday night at Heathrow Airport. Adam Barton, who was traveling with his family from Abu Dhabi, said he was getting alerts on his phone about potential missile strikes while in the airport before he left.

"We had an alert on our phone, saying to get away from the windows for potential missile attacks," Barton said.

Meanwhile, some wealthy travelers were paying large sums for luxury flights to Europe via airports that are safe from Iranian drone and missile attacks. Demand for charter flights has skyrocketed, with some people paying up to 200,000 euros ($232,000).